I can’t say this is surprising. I knew that Jean Charest would jump at the chance to attempt to buy himself some love again from the Quebec voters.  Yesterday, he committed 180 million dollars for this project in addition to what Quebec City mayor, Regis Lebeaume has already committed. In all, 400 million dollars is necessary. Since this is Quebec, where our infrastructure projects are known to be finished way over deadline and way over budget, count on it going above and beyond 400 million smackers.

That’s just great! I mean, Charest got himself in trouble with his last budget , implementing user fees and a nasty zombie; the health care contribution which starts this year. Those super hospitals that were supposed to be long built are still empty lots.

Our public schools are suffering. For Gawd’s sake, did you know that parents are obliged to send their kids to their public schools with their own toilet paper? That’s right, kids. Kim Fraser on CJAD did a whole segment on her show about how much parents have to cough up these days just to send their kids to public schools and all the supplies they have to purchase. Amongst that long shopping list, was toilet paper.  Pathetic!

But, golly gee, Charest, who finds himself mired in scandals, which honestly, if they didn’t exist, they would had to have been invented–that’s just the way it goes in Quebec. When French Quebec generally deems the Liberals have been in power for too long, a ‘crisis’ pops up like magic! Trust me, my readers from the province of Quebec know exactly what I’m talking about.  The Parti-Quebecois ain’t so squeaky clean,neither. Particularly, not that shrew Pauline Marois when she held various ministries under Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry.

It’s been a rough spring and summer for Charest and the death of  MNA Claude Bechard  of  Temiscouata-Kamouraska, no doubt,  would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. But really, Jean, a hockey arena? For an NHL team that doesn’t even exist?  NHL commissioner Gary Bettman certainly hasn’t committed to anything. From what I understand, he’s saying, build the arena and we’ll see.

I’m surprised Charest is pledging this tax payer money, though. I never would have imagined him doing such a thing as a fed  under the old Progressive Conservatives years ago. I thought he would be smart enough to know that this arena won’t curry favor with him. Gilles Duceppe and the separatists will use the hypothetical Nordiques Part deux to promote sovereignty as Kelly McParland explained not long ago.

“That’s right! If we were independent, we’d have a great big arena in Quebec and our team would only speak French and we’d win the Stanley Cup eight times out of 10, because when you’re independent, you win the Stanley Cup.”)

As silly as that sounds, McParland is correct, that is exactly how the separatists will paint this. Remember, the separatists had used the Quebec Olympic athletes’ performances to promote sovereignty as well; the precedent certainly exists.  Thus, Charest would not be seen as having been the savior of Quebec hockey. In fact, those scandals which he faces will still remain front and center and he will continue to wear his last budget.

As I’ve pointed out in previous posts and on other comment boards, after fifteen years, we’re due for another referendum on sovereignty and this one better count; Quebec’s place within or without Canada needs to be resolved one way or the other.  Sorry, Premier Charest, you’re the big loser here; you should have taken the high road; either way, your days are numbered; the least you can do is just say “No!” to paying for that new arena. After all,  John Molson didn’t use tax payer dollars to build the Molson Center (now the Bell Center); neither did any other Canadian jurisdiction. The precident simply isn’t there. The very least you can do with whatever time you have left in the Premier’s chair is to try fix public health care and education, seriously! If the schools can’t supply even the cheapest of toilet paper, there is a serious problem here.

It was argued over the week-end by Norman Spector that Pierre-Karl Peladeau was working feverishly hard to fight the CRTC to get his Harpercon infomercial channel on a “must carry” license so he can lobby Master Steve for the bucks to pay for the majority of that new white elephant.  Here’s a thought, if Peladeau is the billionaire, why doesn’t he foot the bill for this arena the same way Molson did in Montreal for the Habs?    I had provided examples of Juinior’s business past that may indicate that Peladeau may not have quite the midas touch in business Big Daddy Peladeau had.

After some Harpercon puppets were seen sporting old Nordiques jerseys about town, it seems to be more likely that Stevie spiteful will be engaging in some of his trademark pork barrel politics in Quebec City.  As Don Martin pointed out, his puppets would not be running around like cheerleaders in the Nordiques jerseys without orders from the Master hisself.   So Stevie spiteful, in not only a desperate attempt to keep his existing Quebec seats, but perhaps an attempt to buy more, is also trying to buy himself some Quebecois lovin’ with this bloody arena. Jean-Pierre Blackburn has said that federal funding cannot be accomplished without some kind of private partnership.   Not to mention, if Stevie spiteful coughs up the dough to buy that Quebecois lovin’, it could cause a backlash in the rest of the country for him, especially from places like Edmonton and Hamilton who seek to either build or upgrade existing arenas in their own cities.

And so, the elements are converging to create a political squeeze play pitting West against East, fiscal prudence against profligacy, vote buying in Quebec against voter backlash everywhere else.

Waiting and watching from the sidelines are NHL owners in Calgary and Edmonton who occupy the league’s sixth and second oldest rinks respectively, eyeing this as a funding precedent which the Conservatives will have a hard time ignoring in their Alberta fortress.

Just wait until Regina demands federal help for a domed football stadium or Ottawa extends its palm for a stadium handout to refurbish its inner city park. And if Quebec gets a returning NHL franchise while Jet-less Winnipeg waits in vain, well, what a mess

A mess? Now, that’s putting it mildly.  However, like the Quebec Liberals tend to take for granted that Anglophones will always vote for them, thus they tend to ignore them  & they pander more to Francophones, I suspect that Steve may feel the same way about the west, namely, Alberta. Look at every poll, consistantly, the Harpercons poll above 50%,  many times, over 60% in Alberta; thus,  perhaps, like Charest with the Anglophones, Steve may well take Alberta for granted. Another problem is that old myth that Alberta and Alberta alone supports Quebec and the have not provinces.   If federal money is awarded for this arena while Edmonton may go without, won’t go over well.

In addition to potentially losing in the rest of Canada, there is no guarantee he will win more seats in Quebec or even keep the ones he already has. Remember, Duceppe has been lobbying Steve for awhile now. If Steve does decide to kick in the rest of the cash for this white elephant, one can be sure that Duceppe will be sure to be front and center, in front of the microphones and cameras taking credit for all of this, and let’s face it, when it comes right down to it, Duceppe has more credibility in Quebec than Stevie Spiteful ever will.

So no, I, for one, don’t want the tax payers funding a new arena in Quebec City. I just wished that many of my fellow Quebecers felt the same way and had bigger fish to fry like health care and education, rather than to worry about arenas for non-existant teams.   There is no precedent for this as pointed out earlier. Sports stadiums and hockey arenas are privately funded solely.  Peladeau wants an NHL franchise so badly, let him build the arena on his own dime.  We hear governments at all levels saying we must cut back; there’s no money for health care and education and other programs and such, then it stands to reason, there is no money for white elephants.

Wouldn’t it be a kick in the pants if after the all 3 levels of gov’t committed the funding for this arena, and it got built, only for Bettman to say “no” to Quebec City, either because the arena took too long to build (like most of our infrastructure projects as mentioned above) or whatever other reason.  A further outrage to the tax payers, but oh the irony!

While I have noticed more and more corporate media outlets becoming more Harpercon friendly; hell, let’s make it cheerleading “Steve is oh so dreamy!”  Hell, in 2008, about 90% of newspapers endorsed Steve, although, in the wonderful world according to Fagstein, every newspaper should endorse Steve; not endorsing any candidate, is apparently, “cowardly” (yeah, I know, he crossed it out, but it’s what he meant; otherwise, we wouldn’t have seen the crossed out word in the first place).   Maybe I’m old fashioned and believe that no newspapers should endorse candidates. And folks actually think that we need a Harpercon infomercial channel 24/7.

Anyway, The Montreal Gazette came out with an editorial yesterday, basically telling voters of the riding of St-Laurent to vote for the ADQ candidate, Jose Fiorilo in next week’s by-election, in no uncertain terms.  Naturally, this editorial is unsigned.  Hell, even Jane Taber signs her stuff.

But, man, does that editorial just ooze of sour grapes! Obviously, one of those Anglos, not only still stuck with the whining for more rights for Anglos than Francophones in a Francophone province, but also still hasn’t gotten over the fact that their precious suburbs are now merged with the ’rif raf’ working class of the City of Montreal.

You see, Jean-Marc Fournier will be running in the usually Liberal ‘safe’ riding of St-Laurent in next week’s by-election. He was the ‘star’  brought back to the National Assembly by Jean Charest to try, essentially, to bail the Quebec Liberal party out of its’ troubles with a dixie cup.

There is a problem electing this particular Liberal candidate. Following the forced mergers under the Parti Quebecois, the Liberals campaigned on referendums for the suburbs to demerge.  Fournier was the author of this demerging program. I don’t know all the details, but many argue that he, by extension, the Liberals made demerging near impossible or impossible.

Well, let’s take a look:

We wonder if Fournier even remembers how that played out in Saint-Laurent on June 20, 2004: Those who turned out to vote in the demerger referendum were 3-1 against remaining in Montreal, but the total “let us go” vote, at 28.6 per cent of eligible voters, fell below the artificial minimum requirement imposed by the government. Saint-Laurent remained part of Montreal.

The part of the bill where the demerger referendum results for Ville St-Laurent were nullified due to such a low voter turn out (only 28.6%) as mentioned above is actually something that makes sense!  A novel idea!   Why? Obviously, more than 70% must have been ok with Ville St-Laurent remaining merged with the City of Montreal if they didn’t bother to go out and vote in that little referendum, right?

Imagine if we had these minimums for all elections?  Maybe we’d be looking at different governments.

Look, I don’t live in St-Laurent, I don’t really know Jean-Marc Fournier as a candidate. As a blogger, unlike a corporate media outlet, I could give my opinion on who I would like to see  win in any given election or referendum, but in this case, I will abstain, unless, the fledgling Quebec Solidaire is running a candidate and then I would say vote for them; I would vote Quebec Solidaire.  But, that’s not the point of this excercise.

My first  issue with this shrieking editorial is the obvious bias which I have always felt responsible media shouldn’t have.  I don’t believe it should be mainstream media’s role to endorse any electoral candidates or parties, nor do I believe they should endorse a position on any side of a referendum so strenuously. When the biases in newspapers, on talk radio or tv news are so blatantly obvious from either side, how are we supposed to find the truth about anything?

Speaking of bias, this brings me back to my second issue with this editorialist’s problem with the 28% rule.  He/She mentioned that Fournier would more than likely get in with only  approximately 28% of eligible voters in St-Laurent actually showing up to vote.  Well, wouldn’t you like that minimum then? More to the point,  I bet this editorialist is one of those who leads the cry of of ” the majority of Canadians voted for Dreamy Stephen Harper! See? Our Electoral system works!”

Someone wrote a letter to the editor regarding a cartoon I missed. A rather graphic and violent cartoon of Jean-Marc Fournier.  I couldn’t find the cartoon to link to. But here’s the letter.

Gazette editors might think they can opine on the by-election, but there are limits in the manner of expression. Tuesday’s cartoon depicting Liberal candidate Jean-Marc Fournier’s image on a poster defaced with two knives, an axe, and a blob of blood is disgusting. We live in a world of violence. Such images might encourage fanatics or mentally unstable individuals to act out. Since when do you have the right to publish such visually shocking cartoons?

You may express your dissatisfaction about the Quebec Liberals and Fournier, but you certainly don’t have any right to depict violence toward a human being, a family man in private life.

I dunno, but this sounds awfully close to Sun Media’s editorial advocating the ‘locking and loading’ of Tamil migrant ships.  Now, that cartoonist. Is  The Montreal Gazette auditioning for the Kory Klan?

Yes, the height of Yellow Journalism; telling readers who to vote for and promoting violence.

As for the Montreal Gazette, why that didn’t fold instead of the Montreal Star in 1979 is beyond me.

How Conveeenient!!  Dana Carvey’s the Churchlady would say on Saturday Night Live in the 80s & early 90s.  As puritanical as the Church lady was, one has to wonder if  she would have been as nutty as Pastor Terrence Jones of Gainesville, Florida is.  He’s the wingnut who plans to commemorate 9/11 in a whole new way–by burning the Quran.  Ain’t that special? I see that  the Evangelicals of America still haven’t given up the traditions of good ol’ fashioned book burnings of literature that just doesn’t suit their puritanical maintenance of ignorance and in many cases, white supremacy.

General Petreaus  has already come out against this event, citing that this would endanger the lives of  the troops fighting in Afghanistan.

But with about 120,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops still battling al Qaeda and its allies in the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement, Petraeus warned that burning Qurans “is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems — not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.”

And one of his deputies, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, told CNN’s “The Situation Room” that the event “has already stirred up a lot of discussion and concern” among Afghans.

“We very much feel that this can jeopardize the safety of our men and women that are serving over here in the country,” said Caldwell, the head of NATO efforts to train Afghan security forces.

Caldwell said American troops “are over here to defend the rights of American citizens, and we’re not debating the First Amendment rights that people have.” But he added, “What I will tell you is that their very actions will in fact jeopardize the safety of the young men and women who are serving in uniform over here and also undermine the very mission that we’re trying to accomplish.”

Of course, much of the right wingnut faction, including, of course, Kathy Shaidle, and this fool who really shouldn’t be loose in society,  much like Stevie Spiteful, show how they stop supporting the troops when it’s no longer conveeenient for them to do so. In fact, the latter has his own way of directing General Petraeus:

Petraeus would do better to tell the Afghans that in America we have freedom of speech and expression, and that we put up with speech and expression that we dislike without trying to kill the speaker. He would do better to tell them that their likely murderous rage over this event is an outrageous overreaction, and that any bloodshed over this would be a heinous crime, far dwarfing any crime they think the people in Florida are committing.

Oh yeah! Better still, Robert of “Jihad Watch”, since you claim to know more about how to run a war and conduct NATO troops in this effort, how’s you enlist and fly down to Afghanistan and you just go and tell the good general how it’s done? Even better still, how’s about you tell the Taliban and whomever else you perceive to be the “enemy” what you just said above and everything else in that blog of your’s and let’s see exactly how well that would go over?

Our dear self-designated Jihad vigilante doesn’t quit while he’s behind:

Petraeus should be defending the Florida church’s right to do as they please, and using it as a teaching moment in Afghanistan to say, We are going to defend our vision of society, no matter what you bring against us.

More like impose your vision of society, it would seem. Ok, then, we’ll see if his “subjects” would be fast learners here.  Say they adapt DeBeauxOs of Dammit Janet’s massively excellent idea and they burn bibles. I would also add that they should burn Torahs.  I wonder how our Jihad vigilante, Robert would feel about that? After all, it’s what your vision of society that you’re imposing on others is all about, right? Burning books you just don’t like?

As for Jesus Christ, well, he has been twisted around to suit the new right, hasn’t he? I mean, let’s face it, he’s just been too damned liberal with his healing the sick, helping the poor and teaching about love and peace toward our fellow man.  It is why Andy Schlafly is rewriting the bible, isn’t he?

And now, Pastor Jones  has told ABC News in a special interview that

If Jesus Christ were here today, he would support burning the Quran.

I guess Jesus Christ doesn’t support the troops neither, or at the very least, shouldn’t, if he were still among us (I’m aware that many of my readers are non-believers and when I do blog about Jesus, I’m not imposing my views on anyone).

I wonder how Robert, the Jihadist vigilante feels about the 9/11 first responders having had their health care funding cut by 77%  and, in December of 2007, when Dubya cancelled a health monitoring and treatment program for Ground Zero workers?  Does Pastor Jones think Jesus Christ would have supported that in his psychotic mind? I wonder why Pastor Jones doesn’t commemorate 9/11 in a more constructive fashion like raising money through his church to help these victims and their families? Oh yeah! That would be evul soshalism, now wouldn’t it?

In the wonderful delusional world according to the evangelical far right cult and their flock like Pastor Jones and Andy Schlafly as well bungling fools like the socon element here in Canada, Jesus Christ is whomever they would like him to be; whatever suits their whims.  I wonder if Pastor Jones and his ilk even knows how to read; let alone read the bible. After all, actually sitting down and taking the time to read it before Schlafly and his Conservapedia friends butcher it beyond recognition, would just be inconveeeenient.

It seems  just like yesterday I began my first post when SSM was at blogspot, back in the days with those rather boring looking cookie-cutter themes. I noticed Blogger has improved on that since then.

What’s funny is that I had never meant for Sister Sage’s Musings to be a political blog.  When I first opened the account in June, 2009, I had originally meant it to be more of an online journal of my trials and tribulations as I hit middle age; more of a personal nature.  Maybe some thoughts of the news I had heard earlier in the day or week, but nothing more. I had put up a few posts which I had since scrapped and come to think of it, they  don’t seem important anymore and I had given up on blogging altogether, but kept the blogger account open.

It’s funny, I was one of those (somewhat) politically apathetic folks.   While I always voted at every election since I was old enough to do so, as I believe that we don’t have the right to bitch about the government we have if we don’t vote, I believed that all politicians & the two main parties; Liberals and Progressive Conservatives were pretty much the same although, I kept a higher watch as I observed the growth of Reform and the merger of the Cons and, like so many Canadians, stared at the TV with utter horror and disbelief as I saw ol’ Stevie spiteful get elected as PM, but never believed it would last as long as it has.

I was also one to take a lot for granted, that Steve would never get his majority, that would never lose medicare or any other of our social programs, etc. I woke up for the first time after learning about the Shona Holmes lawsuit against her own government, as well as slandering Canada to unsuspecting Americans. It was my first taste of political discussions on line; on Facebook and then Twitter much later on. Observing and reading all the current events, as well as being introduced to political blogs from both sides of the borders was the beginning of my wake up call; that lesson on how we can’t take anything for granted because anything can happen if we allowed ourselves the luxury of being lulled into a false sense of security.

The first Canadian political blog I followed regularly was A Creative Revolution.  Pale & Dr Prole introduced me to something; straight talk. Two average, concerned women expressing their concerns for what is happening to Canada and the world out there without the usual increasing Harpercon-friendly bias in the usual corporate media outlets I was discovering.  Pale and Prole  were providing an alternative; voices from women who don’t owe anything to anyone; no editors to change their words beyond recognition (hell,  that happens to letters to the editor!), nobody pulling their strings; thus more credible opinions.  How refreshing! I would be introduced to others of equal quality and entertainment later like  Dr Dawg and The Galloping Beaver. I thought to myself, Hell! I had so much frustration for that corporate media with their right winged slant and Harpercon sympathies, How clever! Put your own opinion out there and perhaps even add some truth where corporate media may have left out.   That’s when I decided that Sister Sage’s Musings would become a  political blog, for the most part, due to my frustration with corporate media.  That, of course, was the easy part.  I had no idea what kind of trials and tribulations I would be up for. So many lessons I’ve learned. Sometimes to the point where I had entertained even leaving blogging altogether. Battle fatigue and migraines were but a few issues.

I’ve met a lot of interesting people once my blog was aggregated at Progressive Bloggers. I liked, and still do, like the information sharing. For an introverted individual who thinks socializing should be reserved for work only, I have found much of the interaction fun.  Many history & economics buffs, whom my dad would have loved to meet, having taught both those subjects himself during his teaching career.

Then, through Canadian Cynic, I had been introduced to the dark side, the Blogging SupposiTories. I had learned why CC was so amused by them. Wow! I had no idea this was what conservatism was about.  Having been raised by a regional union rep for the Montreal Teachers’ association and a staunchly left winged mother, and their friends, for the most part all seemed to be like minded, I don’t think I was ever really exposed to Conservatives, well, those who voted the old Progressive Conservative, but I never remembered them being as stupid, or as demonic or (in some cases) as psychotic as the Blogging SupposiTories, nor do I remember them ever promoting greed above all.   I still ask myself if this is a new phenomenon or is this the way they’ve always been, only now they’re unplugged?

I got tired and took a brief hiatus before Christmas, as many remember. I had decided to quit smoking and was battling other health issues, as well as a change in my job description at work. This was not conducive for battle.  Being nicotine deprived also gave me blogger’s block (I don’t call myself a writer. I’m too dyslexic and I also  create digital art as many have seen to reflect my thoughts on current events.  Besides, I have noticed that many bloggers tend to be auditioning for careers in journalism or other professional writing gigs or are already established; this is not my case. I have no interest in that whatsoever. That would defeat the original purpose as to why I started my blog in the first place), among other hideous withdrawal symptoms.  By the by, for those who haven’t kept up, I finally fell off the wagon end of June/early July, when my brother and his girlfriend came to town and I decided to light up with them.  Not the end of the world. In fact, I feel like my old self again.

I eventually did decide to go back to blogging, but not on blogspot. I wanted to design my own site & be self-hosted. I really didn’t like the cookie cutters offered at blogger. WordPress had much cooler theme designs and more to choose from, but I wanted my own designer original that no one else had.   As a graphic artist, I have photoshop and Illustrator skills to come up with something cool, just a dummy at coding.  I looked through tutorials until  my husband downloaded Artisteer for me for one of my Christmas gifts. That application provided the templates, but I could provide my own backgrounds, pics, icons, rss buttons, so  I still got to put up my designer original.  Hey, I got green hosting services to boot!  Sister Sage’s Musings’ new home was finally unveiled New Years’ Eve. New Year-new start-new site.

I still had a challenge though; how to blog without cigarettes?  I somehow managed though, prorogation was happening and I joined the Montreal anti-prorogation  rally planning committee.   The rest came on its’ own.

I eventually had  a co-blogger who provided a different progressive view and a much different style.  I wanted other co-bloggers because I wanted to branch out to other projects.   The Left Hand, of course, is welcome to come back and blog here anytime. I’m still looking for a  progressive co-blogger to blog in either in French or English.  I have to say that having guest contributors and / or a co-blogger has been a positive experience for me.

Many firsts. Many situations I didn’t know how to handle. One such example was when  I blogged my response to the passing of President Obama’s heavily watered down health care bill; the post ended up being  marksteyn.com’s reader of the day.  With that came a bunch of traffic.  Problem was, did I want that kind of traffic? My comments section was bombarded; suffice to say, some of them had strange ideas as to what a love letter consisted of. I remembered being in a total panic, emailing a fellow prog blogger, ‘what do I do?’  But after  reading his advice,  I realize that there’s no such thing as bad traffic, but it’s more how one handles the trolls that decide to spew their toxic venom.  I still have trouble have trouble with that to this day. I laugh about it now.  Jokes like Sister Sage went to the wrong side of the tracks and stuff like that. I have to admit, it is funny.

Speaking of trolls and having difficulty cutting them off and dealing with them, I learned how toxic some can be and how persistant.  I learned that sometimes having the best of intentions and wanting to encourage debate and freedom of expression,  sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way and yes, I had to ban a few folks.  Discourse can’t be had with those who think General Pinochet is their hero, or  those who believe victory is using sock puppetry.  Yes, I had no idea how much evil there was, here in Canada, before I joined the blogging world. I wish I never discovered them, but at the same time,  I know I had to, because ignorance is not bliss in this case.

I think what’s been hardest for me in the past year, were disagreements with fellow progressive bloggers. Not the minor skirmishes; those are to be expected.  After all, Progressive bloggers are a mix of people from socialists to red tories.  I’m somewhere in between the two these days. As much as I like socialist ideals, I know most of Canada is not that way and they fear it; they’re in the center.  No, what I mean are some of the more serious disagreements I’ve had with a few of them over certain issues, be it current events or even over the handling of certain trolls.   Some, regrettable, and I think moving past those,  and looking back, I’m not proud of myself.  Others, while never easy, are sometimes unavoidable.  It is my goal to come to some kind of truce, but at the same time, I know conflicts could come up again when certain issues elicit such passions.

Now, here I am, exactly one year later. I obviously still have a lot to learn.   I am still meeting interesting people throughout the blogosphere and some, rip-roaringly entertaining, if nothing else. Sometimes, one has to laugh at the Blogging SupposiTories (most of them, anyway); as my Dad would say, if they had half a brain, they’d be dangerous.

Will I still be here next year, doing battle? I don’t know.  But, honestly, I never believed Sister Sage’s Musings, as a progressive political blog would have lasted this long, given all that has happened in the past year.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have provided moral support, encouragement, advice and cared enough to  let me know when I was on the wrong track and to quit while I was behind via email. You all know who you are!

Either that, or he must be making a list of all those “rabid lefties” and “anti-semites” over on Twitter.  He has just left us with a warning about his new Sun column come this Tuesday.  Wait a minute! Didn’t he and the Sun part company in 2007? Ah yes, this is the new guard which advocates “locking and loading”; he should be their star.

Anyway, he is ranting about George Soros, a billionaire who spends his money on left winged agendas. More specifically, ol’ Ezzy’s got his intestinal tract twisted in a pretzel because of Soros’ supposed  ”Nazi” activities during the Holocaust. He is referring to this interview on Sixty Minutes.

KROFT: My understanding is that you went out with this protector of yours who swore that you were his adopted godson.

Mr. SOROS: Yes. Yes.

KROFT: Went out, in fact, and helped in the confiscation of property from the Jews.

Mr. SOROS: Yes. That’s right. Yes.

KROFT: I mean, that’s — that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult?

Mr. SOROS: Well, of course I c — I could be on the other side or I could be the one from whom the thing is being taken away. But there was no sense that I shouldn’t be there, because that was — well, actually, in a funny way, it’s just like in markets — that if I weren’t there — of course, I wasn’t doing it, but somebody else would — would — would be taking it away anyhow. And it was the — whether I was there or not, I was only a spectator, the property was being taken away. So the — I had no role in taking away that property. So I had no sense of guilt.

Mr. SOROS: Not — not at all. Not at all. Maybe as a child you don’t — you don’t see the connection. But it was — it created no — no problem at all.

KROFT: No feeling of guilt?

Mr. SOROS: No.

KROFT: For example that, ‘I’m Jewish and here I am, watching these people go. I could just as easily be there. I should be there.’ None of that?

You see, Ezzy, of course, will believe anything his beloved Ann Coulter spews.  His beloved Ann, who, as we remember, believes that Jews need to be “perfected” and I imagine ol’ Ezzy is included in this badly needed improvement category.

Rich for ol’ Ezzy to go neanderthal on a scared 14 year old in hiding and doing what he needed to do to survive while losing much of his family and watching the attrocities around him.

Really rich for Ol’ Ezzy, considering he so proudly and vigorously defended Marc Lemire,  a known white supremacist who worked with  the likes of neo-Nazi leader,  Paul Fromm, called a bigot by the NattyPo’s  Johnny Kay, of all people, for Gawd’s sake and former president of the Heritage Front, a Neo-Nazi organization, until it disbanded in 2005, against a  Canadian Human Rights Commission, striking down Section 13. Yes, kids, he was feeling festive about it and probably still does to this day.  All about free speech, supposedly.

What a hypocrite! He chastises George Soros for events he had no control of as a teen-ager, but vigorously defends thugs like Marc Lemire, who chose their own twisted, psychotic, bigoted paths in life and would more than likely defend other such neo-Nazis and holocaust deniers in his quest to stay relevant and attempt to close down Human Rights Commissions.

Between his defense of white supremacist neo-Nazis, his known bashing of B’nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress, & his pathetic school boy admiration of Ann Coulter, one has to wonder who the anti-semite really is?

One also has to wonder if ol’ Ezzy would still be turning purple over Soros’ past if he were funding the tea-bagger movement along with the Koch brothers and/or World Net Daily instead of Media Matters?

I wonder if this will get me on his Anti-Semite hit list now? I’m starting to feel lonely.

H/T Rusty Idols

Pierre-Karl Peladeau and Gilles Duceppe, as well as the mayor of Quebec City, Regis Lebeaume, all have one common goal; to bring an NHL franchise back to Quebec City. In order to accomplish this, NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman has made clear to Lebeaume that a new arena is essential before he can even consider a new team for Quebec City, a deal needs to be in the works for the construction of a new arena. La Colisee is old and falling apart; same problem that existed when the Nordiques left in 1995 for Colorado.   They all want and need federal dollars to build this new arena. Furthermore, they argue that this new arena would help them in yet another bid for the winter Olympic games in 2022. Yeesh! When will they ever learn?  Sweater vest Steve has not committed either way to this project.

Last night, I read an interesting column from Norman Spector. Now, normally, he writes insipid drivel, but this one offers an interesting theory as to why Pierre Karl Peladeau is so gung-ho about getting his Fox News North out on the airwaves in spite of the fact many critics wonder if such a conservative outfit can even get the sponsors and even make money. Spector, basically, seems to think that Peladeau’s 24 hour Harpercon brown nosing channel will get the federal dollars to pay for this arena.  Furthermore, He gives a precedent where this kind of journalistic brown nosing helped Asper.

What’s been missing from the discussion of an additional all-news network in Canada is the quid pro quo: what does Pierre Karl Péladeau get out of this? Surely, this is not just about getting the right to introduce another cable network in Canada, which, even if it succeeds – a big if – will not make megabucks. And, while everyone would like to have the influence that comes from having your own media horn to toot – which, in Mr. Péladeau’s case, includes tooting back at Paul Desmarais and his family – there must be something more to it.

There is.

For the Asper family, ownership of the Conservative-friendly National Post was the ticket to government funding for a human-rights museum in Winnipeg. (Who knows what other funding would have flowed had Izzy lived longer?) Mr. Péladeau’s personal priority is pedestrian: the return of hockey to Quebec City. The price of his support for the Conservatives is a new arena in that city, which is the NHL’s price of admission for the franchise Mr. Péladeau would like to own and converge with his media properties.

Ok, fine, it’s also not the first time we’ve heard Junior expressing interest in bring hockey back to Quebec City, as well as Gilles Duceppe and the Mayor Regis Lebeaume. I’m sure many fans want the same thing. However, is this all simply a romantic notion and very little to do with business smarts? Let’s take a trip down memory lane and get a reminder as to why the Nordiques ended leaving for Colorado in the first place, shall we?

For the 1994–95 season, Marc Crawford was hired as the new head coach, and Forsberg was deemed ready to finally join the team, but first there was the problem of a lockout. In the shortened season of 48 games, the Nordiques played well and finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference. However, the team faltered in the post season and was eliminated in the first round by the defending Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers.

The playoff loss proved to be the Nordiques’ swan song in the NHL as the team’s financial troubles increasingly took centre stage, even in the face of renewed fan support over the previous three years. The league’s Canadian teams (with the exception of Montreal, Toronto, and to a lesser extent, Vancouver) found it difficult to compete in a new age of rising player salaries, which was made even more difficult by a weakening Canadian dollar (the Canadian teams’ revenues are earned in Canadian dollars, but player salaries are paid in US dollars). Quebec City was also by far the smallest market in the league, and the second-smallest market in North America to support a major-league team (behind only Green Bay, Wisconsin). Additionally, Quebec City is a virtually monolingual francophone city. Unlike in Montreal, nearly all public address announcements were only given in French. Then as now, there were no privately-owned English-language radio stations, and only one privately-owned English language television station. The only English-language newspaper was a weekly. These factors severely limited the Nordiques’ marketability in the anglophone market even in their best years. While the Nordiques had a fairly loyal fan base, it was not enough for them to be viable in the new environment.

Aubut asked for a bailout from Quebec’s provincial government, but the request was turned down, as few were willing to be seen as subsidizing a hockey club that paid multi million-dollar salaries. In May 1995, shortly after the Nordiques were eliminated from the playoffs, Aubut explained that he had no other choice but to sell the team to a group of investors in Denver, Colorado.

Well, don’t most of these issues mentioned above, still exist today?  New arena or La Colisee?  Public relations specialist and former aid to Marcel Aubut, Luc Ouellet believes the market in Quebec City is just too small for an NHL team in Quebec City and that folks just won’t pay 100$ for the admissions.

So, to get this straight, Peladeau is insistent on having a Fox News North which would be a 24/7 infomercial for the Harpercons which many believe will not get the subscribers, nor the sponsors necessary to be profitable just so he can get the federal government to cough up the dough needed to build a new arena so he can have a new NHL team in Quebec City, which would also more than likely, not make money?  More evidence that perhaps Junior is not the savvy businessman many would lead us to believe he is. And he really isn’t, you know.

Junior did have to declare bankruptcy in his first year of business with the old man’s premier asset, the printing company, Quebecor World. Ok, fine, the printing industry is dying due to the changing technology toward an electronic world.  However, was running that printing empire into the ground deliberate on his part? When I was in training in estimation and management for the printing industry, my estimation instructor knew old man Peladeau quite well, or so he told us.  The instructor,  much like the Peladeaus, was an anti-union, anti-labor law, Mario Dumont cheerleader wingnut who spoke fondly of the old man, but never had much use for Junior.  Every so often in class, he would express disappointment at how Junior for his mishandling of Quebecor World.

Also, Fagstein briefly goes over some of Junior’s business failings in his posting from May 14, 2009.  Click the link, it’s worth the read.

Is this a case of simply a spoiled brat wanting his toys at any cost?  That seems to make the most sense to me.

And what a hypocrite he is!  Forget that he wants every cable and satellite subscriber to pay for his Fox News; not very conservative or libertarian of him. Never mind that obviously typical Conservative hypocrisy of demanding tax payers to fork over millions of dollars to build something as frivolous as an arena (I mean, really, Junior, didn’t Daddy teach you the free markets were supposed to take care of that?).  But how about that failed bid to buy the Montreal Canadiens in 2009? That anti-union boss who has kept Journal de Montreal writers locked out and by-passed Quebec’s anti-scab laws to keep the paper going, was being supported by none other than the Fonds de Solidarite of the FTQ - FTQ  one of Quebec’s biggest labour unions! Needless to say, that bid didn’t go over well with many factions. No matter, the Molson brothers entered the bidding war late and won.

This leads me to my next question. Had Peladeau’s bid for the Habs been successful, would he even be interested in purchasing some financially insolvent NHL team from the southern United States to bring to Quebec City? Would he be pushing so hard to put his televised blogging supposiTories on the airwaves?

And for another angle, what if the Liberals were in power? In an elaborate effort to suck up for federal dollars for his arena, would Junior be pushing a channel that was Liberal-friendly?

But there is another player. Gilles Duceppe also wants an NHL team back in Quebec City and is also pressuring the Harpercons to fork over federal dough to build this arena. But for him, the motivations are more tranparent than those of Junior Peladeau. It’s all about Quebec Nationalist Pride.  One must question, how badly does he want this? How does this serve him? The NattyPo’s Kelly McParland seems to think that Gilles Duceppe wins whether master Steve forks over the dough for this arena or not.

The guy can’t lose. He gets to march around his home province, the only one he cares about, railing about how Quebec gets shafted because it doesn’t have an arena in the National Capital (that being Quebec City) because the filthy federalists are too busy spending their simulus money (argent stimulusse) in parts of the country where they speak some foreign language like English. Everyone listening to Radio-Canada nods and agrees: “That’s right! If we were independent, we’d have a great big arena in Quebec and our team would only speak French and we’d win the Stanley Cup eight times out of 10, because when you’re independent, you win the Stanley Cup.”)

That’s good for Duceppe. It’s also good for Duceppe if Harper says no, pointing out, for instance, that Edmonton would also like a new arena but is doing its best to find a way to pay for it without begging Ottawa to play sugar daddy. And when Winnipeg decided it needed a new arena in hopes it might lure the NHL back to town, it just went ahead and built one.

For a conservative non-Quebecer, McParland seems to get the workings of a separatist mind some of the time. It’s true that they think that if we were independent, our hockey teams would not only be solvent, but win every Stanley Cup. Hell, didn’t the separatists use the performances of Quebec athletes at the Vancouver Olympics as another argument for sovereignty? They even managed to turn the Harpercons’ promoting of federal parks to eighth graders into a federalist plot.

Yes, for Duceppe it is win-win.  I think that Steve will agree to footing the bulk of the 400 million dollar bill, courtesy of the beleaguered tax payers, yet again as pork barreling is what Master Steve does best. Most of his Quebec seats are in and around the Quebec City area. As McParland points out, Duceppe can take full credit and make new friends. I might also add that if Steve says no to the project, that honestly, I hope he does (Sorry Hockey fans, the Nordiques weren’t solvent before; the market wasn’t there before; I don’t see anything that has changed that. We’re in a recession. I can think of better ways for the tax payers to spend 400 million dollars. If Peladeau wants that arena bad enough, then he should get a consortium together and bankroll it himself, like a good con should),  Duceppe still wins. He has more ammunition to fuel his sovereignty cause and, dare I say it, perhaps even be able to unseat some of those Harpercon  Greater Quebec City area seats in the next federal election?

But is it that simple? If Stevie Spiteful oks this pork barreling, which I’m sure he will, what will it cost Duceppe?  In spite of the fact that this funding would pretty much ensure that he keeps his Quebec City seats, he would surely demand something of Duceppe. Would Duceppe prop up the Harpercons’ poison pills until the spring when the predicted date of a federal election would take place?  If an election were held sooner rather than later? What if the Liberals won?  Would Iggy,  agree to spending 400 million dollars on an arena in Quebec City? Whether or not the Liberals would go for that would depend largely in part whether or not the NDP would support it or not. I’m not so sure that they would.  We can pretty much guess that a Liberal government would let the chips fall where they may with the CRTC regarding whether or not Fox News North comes to light or not.

As I’ve mentioned above, I hope that tax-payers are not left footing the bill for this arena. Bidding for the winter olympics is a bad idea.  We only finished paying off the Montreal summer games a few years ago.  Our stadium still continues to be a safety hazard and many (myself included)  are now advocating for blowing the damned thing up.

The good citizens of Vancouver will have many years to pay off their six billion dollar winter olympic boondoggle and they can’t seem to sell off their Olympic Village condos in an attempt to recoup some of their losses.  Not to mention, Vancouver’s most vulnerable ended up suffering the most.

Why do we want this?

Sidenote: I wonder if any of the new Quebec Tea-baggers; the Reseau Liberte Quebecois will question Kory at their inaugural luncheon in Quebec City the true Libertarian-ness/conservativeness of his boss demanding the tax payers foot the bill for this frivolous arena? Or better still, will one of them have the balls to throw Junior’s former partnership with the Fonds de Solidarite de FTQ when they were bidding for the Habs in his face?

Well, the Reseau Liberte Quebecois, aka The Tea-bagger hit parade, the Quebecois edition, as I’ve mentioned, is having their launching luncheon at Hotel des Gouverneurs Ste-Foye in Quebec City come October 23.  For those who haven’t caught the details of this extravaganza, details here.

Now, if I were catering the event. I think the most fitting meal that can be served would be….

Feeling green around the gills yet?

That meat, green; moldy and oldy just like Steve’s and those tea-baggers’ politics and ideologies. That oughta war their hearts (if they had any) and stick to their ribs.

Only fitting a meal, naturally. For the extra 10$ the meat won’t be as green, perhaps.

The pork is, of course, cured at the same butcher shop as  Steve’s meat baloney.

Whew! After creating that monstrosity and having seen the package of Steve’s baloney over at Pale’s, am I glad I don’t eat red meat! Yeah, I know, pork is considered white meat. It crawls on four legs, it’s gross; I don’t eat that neither.

You all remember  Gary Breitkreuz, right? That yahoo who, through the use of a sock puppet, who is now long gone (naturally), basically threatened to beat Iggy black and blue? Oh yes! Gary Breitkreuz, just a “Good ol’ Boy!” But, unlike Waylon Jennings’ theme to “The Dukes of Hazard”, he really does mean harm, just like the rest of those Harpercons. Well, he just got dumped by NDP MP Charlie Angus, who previously supported Mullet-head Hoeppner’s bill.

We all remember Breitkreuz, the brute sending an email ‘proposition’ to the NDP MP of Timmins-James Bay; that email that pretty well pushed Angus to change his mind. In an odd sort of way, the gun nut, who once advocated for  new regulations that would make it a-okay to carry restricted firearms like hand guns and semi-automatic assault weapons in cars in cities, may well be the one to sink Mullet head Hoeppner’s bill. What an idiotioc redneck!  Brute Breitkreuz probably couldn’t even shoot the broad side of a barn.

According to the Toronto Star, it seems that the other 11 rural NDP MPs have also a distaste for the behavior of the Harpercons as of late.  It seems that they will either change their vote or at the very least, be absent from the day of the vote.

“You’ve got the Conservatives turning off our rural guys,” said Brad Lavigne, national director of the NDP. He added that two “very real options” are available to rural members — stay away or reverse their earlier support for the Conservative bill.

Charlie Angus correctly points out that it’s the Harpercons, themselves, that are portraying rural Canadians as  uneducated hillbillies. Something Angus and his other rural colleagues, I’m sure, wish to dispell.

“The Conservatives are unfortunately creating an impression that rural Canadians are somehow nut jobs, but they are not. For me, at the end of the day, I just don’t want to be standing beside these guys,” Angus said.

“At this point I am going to vote against this bill because I think the Conservatives … are treating Canadians as if they are fools on this.’’

Will the rural NDP MPs take heat for this? Perhaps.  Could they lose their votes to Harpercons? Maybe not. If they can persuade their constituents with the reports from the RCMP showing that the gun registry is not only useful, but also cost efficient.

Also, there must be other things, besides the long gun registry,  these rural NDP MPs can sell to their consituents that would address their other concerns better than the Harpercons ever could. I mean, were they really voted in because they promised to help Stevie spiteful kill the gun registry?  Not likely.  I would think that they were voted in because they convinced their constituents that they were better trusted to look out for their interests than the Harpercons. These NDP MPs should stick with that.

Look at it this way, Jack’s stubbornness at not whipping his caucus to vote against Mullet-head Hoeppner was most certainly not winning him any appreciation from Stevie Spiteful in addition to not winning him and his party any favor with many Canadians, including much of his own base.

“In effect, rhetoric aside, both Coalition leaders intend to keep the wasteful and ineffective $2 billion long-gun registry,’ the Tories say. They conclude that neither the NDP nor the Liberals care about rural voters. “Rural Canada: either its voice is important, or it isn’t.”

Note that the above quote came from an article that was published one day before the little email exchange between Brute Breitkreuz and Charlie Angus was published. At that time, things still looked like those MPs were going along with Mullet-head Hoeppner.

No, Stevie, and the other rednecks, the NDP rural MPs did and still do want their constituents to have a voice in Canada. They just prefer that their constituents have all the correct information before them; the good, the bad and the ugly.   Facts, figures, evidence, truthiness, all inconvenient  pesky details that go against Stevie and his flunkies’ agendas.

Stay  classy, Harpercons! ,Jack Layton and his party were risking  losing urban seats to align himself with the mullet-head she redneck herself and this is the thanks you give him?

No matter, Jack, looks like your MPs are saving you in spite of yourself.  But really, those Harpercons and their own stupidity and redneck ways are what would kill the Mullet-head’s bill in the end. Talk about your ironies.

It ain’t a political party…yet! But, when one of the six founders is, get ready…Blogging SupposiTory, the Rancid Dr. Jabba the Roy, hisself! And he’s just all ga ga giddy over it!  I guess the Lucides movement was just too Progressive Conservativise-ish/not enough soCon-ish tea-baggy enough, was it?  What a circus! Here’s the site if you dare! If Jabba the Roy is involved, as well as the .ca, the Reseau Liberte Quebecois – Quebec Freedom Network. Now don’t that just sound Tea-baggish?

I remember Jean Lapierre telling Andrew Carter quite often on CJAD that there is now a vaccuum in Quebec politics and he believed that this one would get filled, however, he has his doubts this particular far-right movement will warm the hearts of Quebecers. I believe that he’s correct, but then, I never thought that Canada, east of Manitoba, would embrace Steve’s sharp right socon tea-bagging bull-shit. Lapierre,  too, believed that any new party that may have come to light would be a more centered party. 

What’s even more bizarre is that Lucien Bouchard of that clear eyed movement is endorsing this motley gang of misfits which touts among other tea-bagging goodies, climato-skepticism. Hmm, wasn’t Bouchard an environment minister in Brian Mulroney’s cabinet before going off to form the Bloc Quebecois? But then, Bouchard has proven, over the years, to be a walking self-contradiction.

Prepare for shale gas exploration, I mean, don’t let facts and truthiness like  pesky reports, warning of environmental concerns like  carbon-dioxide emissions, encroach on wildlife habitat and sap freshwater resources get in the way of that tea-bag agenda, now.

They’re going to “redefine nationalism”. I would tell you what they mean, but, frankly, that is indicated on their site, that it is “to come”. I wonder if they even know?  If Jabba the Roy is involved, the pro-monarchist, with his love of titles like “HM PM” (what a brown nose!), count on it pushing for Quebec to be beaten to submission by Steve and the Harpercons.  Insidious ways of decimating the Bloc Quebecois would definitely be on the menu.  After all, if  King Steve can’t win Quebec even by pork barreling,  they’ll find other ways to cheat, right?

Jabba the Roy is involved with five others: Andre Pratte of La Presse, a Harpercon friendly writer; Ian Senechal (please note, I had site translated via yahoo Babelfish, so language would leave something to be desired); Joanne Marcotte, who Radio Canada’s Simon Durivage referred to as Quebec’s Sarah Palin; Gerad Laliberte and Eric Duhaime; who worked as an advisor to the now near-decimated Action Democratique Party of  Mario Dumont and in a previous life, worked under ol’ Stock Day when he was leader of the Canadian Alliance.

As much of a monarchy suck up as Jabba the Roy is and I will guess that, like most French Quebecers, his partners in crime are anti-monarchy; as well as other differences to come, I’m sure, I wonder when this will collapse like a house of cards?

Another part of their mandate? To “defy the media establishment”; yes, they must do something to  get Quebec media to work in their favor; it’s too slanted to the left for their tea-bagging sensitivities;   not to mention, their aversion to things like balanced journalism and actually facts and data.

Perhaps like Steve, they would like a media monopoly a la Pierre Karl Peladeau? A French version of Fox North? They will be holding a shindig  come October in Quebec City and the keynote speaker will be none other than Kory Teneycke hisself! I wonder if he speaks joal?

“It is a great pleasure for me of collaborating with the team of the Freedom-Quebec Network”, affirmed Mr. Teneycke, who intends to explain to the audience the importance of the project that it sets up at present at English Canada. “A fall of the Canadian audience of news televised uninterrupted, a mentality of herd among the journalists and a frankly skewed cover of the topicality explain well that the Canadians are badly served by the media “mainstream”, he adds. “It is time to offer an alternative and it is what we intend to do with SUN TV News.”

Getting cocky, aren’t we, Kory?  There might be a little snag with your mentor’s appointment of Luc Lavoie. Once again, a little problem with legalities here. Details.

Here, of course, are  more of the their tea-bagging goals:

“We all agree on one common ground — the fact that the state needs to be smaller in many many ways,” Duhaime said.

“Some of us are going to push on health-care reforms, some others are going to talk about tax reforms.”

Well, tea-baggers, no matter what language they speak or where they live; they’re nothing, if not predictable.

Yes, for about 25$ or 35$ you can get in to watch Kory lead the clown car brigade at it. I wonder though; what does one get for 10$ more? Poutine? The peas are unfrozen? The rubber chicken is actually cooked? Or one gets to not get touched by Jabba the Roy?  Scary that we would want to be led by idiots who look like their mommies dress them every morning.

Each of the six founders, apparently, coughed up 500$ to start up this little tea-bagging cult.

And folks, if you’re in the Quebec City area and if you wish to crash the party, it is being held at Hotel Gouverneur de Ste-Foye on October 23. Their site is here, but in French. No, they don’t have an English version. Funny, given that Jabba the Roy is one of those idiots who shriek about English rights in Quebec.

I wouldn’t be too surprised if these clowns actually actually made it easier for Duceppe to promote sovereignty in Quebec. As mentioned before, Quebecers are center. Some, particularly in rural areas may even be socons to some degree. However, most of them are elderly and do remember living through the hell that was the Periode Noirceur of Maurice Duplessis. I’m sure they don’t want to live through that again and they certainly wouldn’t wish it on their children and grandchildren.

Well, we all know about  Kory and Peladeau’s whining to King Steve to go knock some heads off at the CRTC to get their Category one license.

Now, thanks to a tweet from Liberal MP, Carolyn Bennett, it would appear that the ministry of Canadian Heritage and Official languages under James Moore has been funding a whole host of community papers and periodicals:

GODERICH, Ontario, July 14, 2010 – On behalf of the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, Ben Lobb, Member of Parliament (Huron-Bruce), today announced funding for 11 community newspapers in the Huron-Bruce region.

Ah, Can you say “Pork Barreling”?  I knew you could! I wonder how many other community papers the Harpercons are funding in their other ridings?

“These federal funds will ensure that these newspapers remain a vibrant source of information for years to come,” said Mr. Lobb.

Translation:  “News” that only praises King Stevie  and his flunkies all of the time; where journalism is one colour: yellow. Unbiased, responsible reporting with actual data and facts will simply not do here.

“The grant from Canadian Heritage is critical to the viability of small newspapers like ours,” said Dave Sykes, Group Publisher, Sun Media. “It ensures that people in rural areas have access to local news.”

BINGO!! Damn, shoulda read it twice! Sun Media. Shoulda known!

Well, well, well!  The take over of print media by Kory and Pierre-Karl Peladeau with the strong arm of King Steve: all paid for by the tax payers. And what do we hear from the Blogging SupposiTories and other Harpercon cheerleaders? Whining about the tax payer funded Ahem! (cough! Cough! Gasp! Wheeze!) ‘Liberal’ CBC??  Yeah, right…As you were.