Harper Knows His Base ~ And So Do We

I have been writing on the internet as the Twain Shall Meet for about seven years now. For the first two years I was only on the discussion boards at MSM web pages, and commenting on News articles.


And I have gleaned a fact or two about the conservative base. I don't claim to have ever made any of them less conservative. It seems that that has never been an option. Though I have had countless interactions with the far Right, I don't believe we can change them. Intransigent as they are we can still defeat them and their right wing ideologies, we simply have got to out number them, not on the discussion sites, but at the polls on election day.

When dealing with the far right I have tried to offer links to information that sheds light on the subject and hand. They don't read them.

This was a comment from a CPC supporter on CBC.ca ~ The article was discussing whether harper would prorogue Paliament to hide from the Senate ?PMO scandal.

Blue2DEnd2013/06/10
at 6:04 PM ETOf course they'll recess early. The union-loving NDP think all people need the summer off and the Liberals need a break too to stew about electing the Papineau Pony to run their ship into the ground.






Sometimes I ask questions of them that require them doing research. They generally do not do that research and the questions go unanswered.










BCWorkinman2013/06/10
at 8:01 PM ETeveryone here thumbs ProudAB down but, he is, of course, right. Harper has to take the hit but it is the front line civil servant that has dropped the ball along with their less than satisfactory managers that as yet have not instilled the importance of securing their computers and flash drives.
As well, you all hate Harper so much and I find it odd yop don't realize that the civil servants do as well. They do not cooperate with the government of the day if they don't like them and they slow down productivity, lost things or misplace them etc. Meanwhile, because they can't be fired without an act of Parliament short of them committing murder, their managers' hands are tied.








Sometimes I notice them trying to turn the channel. Now, who does that remind you of, eh?

Harper knows his base.
by: Kim_Leaman




This just In:    Harper Resigns.
by: Kim_Leaman

Stephen Harper Up to His Armpits

On Friday May the 24th Justin Trudeau said; 

"The Prime Minister is in it, up to his armpits." 

But, he did not say what exactly he was in, up to his armpits. 

Personally I thought he meant Kent. 

Which my friends & I have made synonymous with Sh*t. 

Guess who I caught messin' round out behind the barn?

Luckily ~ I had my Camera.

Stephen Harper
Both Incremental and Excremental

Less than ten seconds after I heard the news that Nigel Wright, chief of staff at the Prime Minister's Office had sent Senator Mike Duffy a cheque for $90,172.oo to cover his fraudulent expense claims for housing in Ottawa, I was on the phone to a political friend. We both knew that this would have Harper up to his armpits in what we like to call 'Kent', although you may know it better as Shit!

I had long thought Stephen Harper was stupid and I had long since known that Mike Duffy was none too bright, but I actually thought that Nigel Wright was cut from a different kind of cloth. Thanks, Nigel for proving me wrong.

There really is no point in retelling this story in all it's strange and wonderfully glorious details.
Much has been written about it in the last two weeks
but please let me tell you a few details that may have escaped you.
I promise to Try to keep it interesting.

You probably know already the strange story of how the unlikely Mike Duffy was made a Senator, but let me give you recollection of it. It was because of the interview which was conducted by Steve Murphy the News Anchor at CTV Halifax. He (Murphy) interviewed Stephan Dion, the Liberal leader at the time, shortly before the 2008 federal election.

Murphy who was in my opinion always an insufferable Conservative boor  asked Stephan Dion an impossible and hypothetical question which was worded in such a way as to be confusing to a man whose first language was markedly Francais Canadien. The question was not only hypothetical but it was in several tenses, past and present and terribly confusing.

Here is that Question:
 "If you were prime minister now, what would you have done about the economy and this crisis that Mr. Harper has not done?"

Anyway, Dion stumbled and asked Steve to repeat the question which Murphy did. But instead of making it clearer he made it, if anything more confusing. After several attempts including several times out to see if he could get a sensible question out of the insufferable Murphy, Stephan finally got the general gist of the very odd question and gave what he thought was a sufficient answer.

Now, I saw it live, so to speak, and CTV Halifax played the edited version without the outtakes. But since this was the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada during a Federal election campaign they sent the whole thing off to to the CTV National Bureau and it fell into the 'oh so unethical' hands of Mike Duffy and he did some creative editing and played it all,  false starts including out-takes, time outs and all. This editing included scathing criticism which (and which I cannot now find) he added after the fact as a narrative which made Stephan Dion look ridiculous in the extreme. It was only an hour later that it was on CTV Halifax Nightly News and it of course was the version Duffy edited.

Long story made short. As a result of this strange interview and Mike Duffy's lack of integrity Dion was done like Dinner. And this in spite of the fact that he had a plan to bring the Kyoto accord up to speed, through a well thought carbon tax and the fact that he saw the 2008  recession coming a mile off, unlike Jim Flaherty who was later completely blindsided by it.

The Dion Debacle - The Day After

CBC: CTV broke ethics code in Dion interview:  Standards Council................."

"The arbiter of ethics on the airwaves ruled Wednesday that CTV violated industry codes when it included three false starts in a broadcast of an election interview with then Liberal leader Stéphane Dion.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council found CTV Atlantic's 6 p.m. newscast was "discourteous and inconsiderate" when it ran the awkward false starts after the anchor promised Dion they wouldn't be broadcast.
It also found the question that was put to Dion "confusing."

After Mike Duffy had been made a Senator I put a statement which I knew wasn't true, intentionally in a blog article saying that Steve Murphy once attacked the Dalai Lama, just to see if it got a reaction. It did and I soon received an email from Murphy, which quickly turned into this conversation.

Note: The Ad Campaign, I refer to in this email was a series of Ads depicting Steve Murphy at the Halifax Harbour, standing next to a "Tall Ship" and going on about his unending love and respect for Canada. It was launched within a week of the Dion (Mugging) interview and I was convinced at the time as I still am, that it was a direct response to the bad press this incident inspired aimed at Murphy's incompetence and lack of professionalism and integrity. 

Funny.
He didn't add that the question was even slightly odd?

Related Links

Duffy resigns from Conservative caucus

Ethics watchdog reviewing payment to Duffy

Harper’s failure to address Senate scandal is hurting his party: Editorial

Wallin quits Conservative caucus

2013-05-25 - The Chronicle Herald Editorial Cartoon

This is a Tweet I sent out to after Harper finally spoke after seven days to his caucus only and after having invited the press corps, took no questions from them before flying off to Peru to talk trade.

This week in Pictures @ The Twain Shall Meet

Let's See This Again, eh?

Power and Propaganda ~ How Justin's Experience Serves Canada Better than Stephen Harper's

Look what I found in Aisle Six!

Apparently,
All Can Play at the Darker Arts!
Share it!

This dark CPC attack ad seems to have disappeared? I'll repost it when I find a copy.

Contypically  Comments are disabled for this video.

 Comments are disabled for this video.

But that didn't STOP Michelle Rempel Con MP from making a fool of herself. in response to this campaign of lies and wrongly attributed quotes and statements place purposely placed out of context. I seem to be having a hard time to get information on her statement though. Send it along if if you have it and I'll add it!

A Progressive friend of mine received this email!
 It was totally unsolicited and equally unwelcome!
I withheld her name.

The Plot Thickens: Jenni Byrne was the CPC National Campaign Manager in 2011. Funny she did say that, isn't it?  In all probability there are a lot of questions about Election Fraud and Robocalls that Jenni  will be asked to answer, the very moment the Harper Government is no longer in Power.
She writes this only to help save her Neo Con Skin.
Electing Justin Trudeau
is to first step to shedding light On th
Harper Night Mare 

I Channel Justin and Steve 
getting to the bottom of things,

 while trying to be Polite to Harper. 

Power and Propaganda ~ Trudeau and Harper Seen Clearly!
by: Kim_Leaman
Directors Cut!

I Failed.      So What?

CBC News - The National - At Issue - A New Political Landscape

Power And Propaganda ~ Harper Introduces "Robo-Me"!

It's an all too real "Pinky and Brain" thing!

One of these Men is a Robot!

April 01 is my Anniversary of sorts,
and I still need your help! 

A short Personal Plea
 in my own Voice.

I'll be back!
Hope you are the same!

~ Power and Propaganda ~ Meet Bill ~

The Blogging Progress

Bill has an older brother
although it appears that:
It may too late for him 

CRUSH

Substantiating The Smear Campaign Against the Conservative Party of Canada ~ Read this Dean!

Have We Finally Found that Smoking Gun?             

Good Saturday Morning Canada. 

This is a Wakeup call.
Hit snooze [][] if you'd rather read.

Have we found the evidence that will finally see us reach the tipping point that so many us have been waiting for? Many of us have waited a long time for such evidence, and as accusations that the Harper Government  systematically bent or broke many of the rules during the May 2011 election swirl around the country, the Conservatives are crying foul. They say that "There is nothing to see here" or that they are the victims of a smear campaign. Well, one thing that happened today was a Huge Substantiation of the main thrust of the oppositions claims that Harper Broke the law in a Criminal way. They've been calling them Unsubstantiated smears for a while now. Day after day! But it turns out that we now have all the ammo we need to Finally wake Canadians. 

 Greg Perry Cartoonist ~ The Toronto Star

Trying?
What Does That Mean?  

How could they "try" to smear the Harper Government and fail to do so? The evidence that these no-longer Progressive Conservatives are all too willing to do anything to gain and keep power is everywhere. The evidence that they are incompetent on all files in all Departments is everywhere. The evidence that these ReformaCons are absolutely in lock-step with the Grand Old Party of America is everywhere. The evidence is all there for honest and intelligent Canadians to see.

Smearing it All Over the Canadian Consciousness
Should be a Cakewalk.

But it has not been. And the reason is simple: Canadians simply do not believe that anyone could be so dishonest, so deceitful, and so very guilty of such things as election fraud and still be the Government. 

Canadians, or so the story goes, would never be 'fooled by criminals into electing them'. Canadians are in fact quite mistaken in this assumption and it is all due to the fact that dishonesty, deceit, denial and obfuscation are so foreign to us and the very cornerstones of the Conservative Party of Canada. And those are not the ways of most of us, so we are reluctant to believe that they are really cheating us.

But, if the evidence that CBC's Terry Milewski released Thursday night, is what it appears to be, then that cheating and that election fraud is systemic and systematic and apparently they are very good at it!

 

Dean Del Mastro Conservative MP has used the phrase 

"Unsubstantiated Smear Campaign" 

over 50 times in the last two weeks. 

WHAT IS CIMS?

THE EMERGING PATTERNTERRY MILEWSKI SPECIAL REPORT ON ELECTION 41

Seriously, is this just a smear campaign?

Personally, I have been Smearing the Conservatives Ever Since I First Noticed Stephen Harper.
But None of it went Unsubstantiated.

I first started to spread this information just before Harper broke his own Fixed date Election law back in late August of 2008. I wrote this list right off the top of my head ~ it contains over 60 issues that pointed to their regressive ideology, and their dismal incompetence. That was almost four years ago. I had not, at the time come to realise the extent to which they were linked to American Right Wing 'Think' Tanks. But that is all public knowledge now. See next blog post.

Here's a comment from CBC.ca referencing that 2008 list!

A link to that CBC.ca Article ~ Now Archived

The very first issue on that long but incomplete list is "In and Out" and it refers to their having cheated democracy during the 2006 federal Election by diverting Money from local campaigns to the Federal one. That was completely outside of the Elections Act and after over five years of saying over and over and over again that it was "an administrative dispute." The Conservatives paid a $52,000.oo fine and just last week dropped their appeal and are paying back $230,000.oo to Elections Canada.

Hell, they even scream "Smear" 
when anyone suggests 
that they are not above racial slurs.

In the Current round of the Harper Government's claims that they are being victimised and are the object of unsubstantiated smears, most Canadians now seem to understand that that is not the case. Does that mean that Canadians are actually getting to know Mr. Harper and his dysfunctional caucus? How I wish it did.

Not until there is a full Public Inquiry into the RoboCon Affair that gets to the bottom of the tactics used and sheds much needed light on  the elements of the Conservative Party that owe their campaign tactics to one of Americas leading right wing hacks, Karl Rove, and leave them and those tactics naked and known to be what they really are,  will we have satisfied our curiosity. At that point I believe all those "smears" will have been substantiated. Most previous smears of this Government's name have been.

If you are not familiar with Karl Rove and his Political views, This may help!

As far as giving any more information on him and his connection to the hard Right NeoCon Machine here, it is too easy to find out all about him at Wikipedia, to need to say much, but I can show a short clip that illustrates some of the vibe that surrounds him.

 

Have we been Smearing them when we have said that we worry about their take on Woman's Rights? 

Was this video producer Smearing him or his Party? 
Or is it an indignant but Satirical Statement of Fact? 

~This Would have Already Happened ~
In a Perfect World!
Milewski Schools Our Mr. Harper
a short but rather interesting cartoon by: Kim_Leaman         
at ttSm

I mean it is still possible to smear someone, 
in an effort to make a statement.

I Owe Dean an Apology, but just this One!
I am in no real hurry, he Owes us all a few.

HEY Main Stream Media ~ Stop Comparing Voter Suppression to Public Service Announcements

Releasing These Important Details
About CPC Candidate ~ Marty Burke
WAS NOT A CRIME
it Was in Fact, Practically a
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

What the MSM has yet to tell us if they even know it, is that prior to the May 02, 2011 Federal Election a right wing lobby group Campaign life Coalition sent out questionnaires to every candidate in the country to see how they all felt about the issues that are near and dear to the Nutters on the Right. Now you can feel free to call me a Nutter on the left. I can live with that, But I can tell you this much, I would have wanted to know about this!

VISIT THIS SITE

One of the Series of Questionnaires
that was Mailed Out to Conservative Mark Burke
Came Back With This Frightening Result!

VISIT THE SITE and click on Questionnaire to View

I realise that the man who authorised the phone calls to non conservatives that gave them this information and who went on to win the riding, Liberal MP Frank Valeriote should have made damned good and sure that this message went out with his name on it, but he says he overlooked it.

No one in the Main Stream Media seems completely satisfied with that, but it does not apparently occur to any of them that it would obviously be known to the recipient of the calls that it was Not the Cons doing it. As I type this I am listening to a vacuous (name withheld) CBC announcer talking about it as if it is some great and powerful transgression that shows that the Liberals were doing something illegal and that that favours the Cons in there effort to cloud the discussion. That is Nonsense. 

Yet they just keep discussing it as if Dean Del Mastro had a clue about any of the subtleties of this and that he may be right in saying what we have all heard him saying and repeating endlessly and mindlessly for days on end. That Dean Del Mastro was being sincere is not even a possibility. 

Why did it NOT occur to any of them that by not identifying themselves, they left the door wide open for the householder to mistakenly think it may have been the NDP that had called them? Now stay with me here.  There are only two possibilities. 

1.) The householder receiving the call was passionately anti-choice. And you can call it pro-life if you prefer, but to me it is anti-choice, and that is another argument that we can have later ~  In which case they would not be swayed from voting conservative, and may even have switched to the conservatives from another choice that they had already somewhat decided upon After all only the conservatives are anti-choice, and not all of them are of course, but had they been, they would definitely have been CPC.

2.) The householder who received the call was pro-choice. In that case they would want this information, which as you see above was accurate, and actually was provided willingly by Mr. Burke These people would have, especially after hearing this,   voted for anyone but Mark Burke. They may even have been thankful for the information and voted for the party that provided that information. But since they forgot to identify the calling party, that vote could just as easily have gone to any other party, including the flying Spaghetti monsters.

So, in reality it was a disadvantage to Valeriote to have failed to self identify. And certainly Not some cunning scheme to cheat anyone.

But if this robocall affair (which I prefer to call the RoboCon Affair) has raised another concern, it may just be that it is time that we abandoned, or at the very least, demanded much more from the MSM than we have been getting from them lately. The Conservatives are doing their best to muddy the waters and the main stream media is doing nothing to provide the clarity that we all need and deserve.

That brings us to one other little thing. How many times a day do you hear the MSM say that we are not engaged, or that we are in the dark, or that we just do not care, or that this kind of issue tends to leave us not caring? Five? Ten? Twenty?

Don't laugh. I counted 35 times yesterday, and so far three times today, but hey, I spend 12 to 16  hours a day tuned in to MSM politics while on-line being heard and listening to and interacting with Canadians from coast to coast. And I can tell you this much. 

Canadian politics will start to heal only when we the people get off of our asses and help it heal and far from being a reason to disengage, the state of politics in this country, and the sad fact that the conservatives, at least the Big C ones, are no longer progressive and the obvious fact that they are connected to American politics, ideology and scandalous tactics is not a reason to give up on Canada and it's politics. 

If anything, it should help to crystallize in our minds the absolute need to become engaged, if not enraged, more aware and not be caught sitting back while others with far less to lose steal our fragile and vital democracy.


Most of us do not have to answer to an editor, an office manger, and advertiser, a board of directors, or share holders or political bullies, but there are those among us that do. And there is no way that we should ever feel that we have to answer to them.

We need to help change that dynamic and we need to let it be known that it is we citizens to whom the debt is owed. I want  a mainstream media that is either driven into the background or who evolves and  becomes a catalyst  for our re engagement.

They really should know enough and be free enough from interference to inspire us to get involved, but many of them are also on the side of the vote suppressors, whether by choice or by circumstance.

Oh, I gotta go. That odd daytime CBC lady just referred to Harper's "pledge to pass the Omnibus (more at Ominous) Crime Bill" which is IMO more of a threat than a pledge. and so should our awakening be more of a threat to wake up every Canadian than a pledge to support the dismal political atmosphere created by this dismal Harper Government!

I may be one of the few that sees reason for hope in the abject hopelessness that is the Harper Government. 

It Is Definitely A Reason 

And a Clarion Call To Rise.

And while you are at it. Please help us to Pressure Elections Canada to release the name of the despot or despots who thought it would be within the rules to divest anyone of their right to vote. And Please join with other Canadians to get the harper Government to call a Royal Commission to get to the bottom of this an fix it so that Nothing Like this ever happens again!

If  the so called Pierre Poutine did indeed come forward yesterday, as he said he would, and if he did indeed confess to something that everyone in the country knows to be a crime, then charge him immediately and unless he is a minor, Release his Name. We have waited for the answer to his identity long enough as it is.

And Yes this Really is Dean Del Mastro trying to defend
what he does not have the skill to defend.

The longer this farce goes on the longer the sheep that never get angry at, or frustrated with these Cons will be able to nod their heads in agreement as they listen to their hero Dean Del Mastro spouting ridiculous talking Points and whining that he and the Cons are the real victims in this affair. That too is nonsense.

Not that he can not sometimes be the victim, he is not exactly known for his glove hand, nor his stick work, after all, Lol!

**********************************************

This Just In:
Fake Video of fake Michael Sona? Surfaces

It is Definitely a Fake says the Montreal Gazette.  

This Whole Damned Story just Keeps Getting 

Curiouser and Curiouser

Republican Interference? ~ The View from the Front Porch Looking North ~ This is Not just Voter Engagement

Has Harper Crossed the Line?

Julius Caesar Crossed the Rubicon 
on January 10th, 49 B.C.
which turned out to be One river too far.
So, why do modern men still cross lines
that Precipitate their Own Undoing?

Why is Noone talking about the Conservative's Relationship with Front Porch Strategies? 

To me, their tell-tale shared backward looking Ideology and all that they both promote sheds light on the very heart of the Robocon Scandals that include not only Tele Town Halls as well as  Robocalls, but a whole litany of other unreported activities. 

Front Porch Who? ~ Who Are They? 

There is lots of evidence to be gleaned from some of Front Porch Strategies own gloating rhetoric and many incidences of both unilateral and mutual congratulation and mindless glad-handing. These are obviously not just business relationships and just as obviously are rooted in the same dark Right wing Ideology that Most Canadians would not tolerate if it was revealed to them.

There is much more than an exchange of services happening here. There is much in this relationship that speaks of  a growing connection between the Harper Conservatives and the  Right, American Conservative Movement. A look at some of the Issues that Front Porch Strategies promotes shows a very close relationship to the American Religious Right and the big money of the Republicans and shows their passionate interest in dredging up a lot of issues that Canadians have long since felt were already settled. Many of them are issues that even Harper claims are already settled. According to Harper for instance there is no reason or plans to resurect the abortion debate. 


Here are just a few screen shots taken from the very public facebook Page of Front Porch Strategies. Just a few pictures to whet your appetite.

What is the Heartbeat Bill? ~ This from the Companies official Public Facebook page:

So what other issues do they promote? Well they are seemingly in lock-step with the Harper government's views on Israel vs. Palestine and openly lobby on Facebook for more support for Israel, and less consideration for Palestinians and are clearly promoting a very unbalanced approach. 

So? Who Do They Do Work For?

I am having a hard time to decide which clip of Newt Gingrich best typifies his incredibly dangerous and dismal Ideology. Should I raise his racist rants? Should I talk about his stupid take on taxes, his attacks on Muslims, or his outrageous treatment of both of his ex-wives? There are just so many clips, and so little time. Of course all of those topics are open game in america.  And again I want to ask you to ask yourself if you think that any company that so actively and passionately promotes nothing but Right wing Ideologues is not very likely to have more than just a business relationship with those who share that Right Wing Ideology?

At any rate I picked this clip because it shows how very practical he can be. This was just moments after his having lost the Republican Primary on Jan. 31st, 2012 in Florida: (Unofficial 100 percent) Mitt Romney 46.42 percent (775,014), Newt Gingrich 31.9 percent (533,117), Rick Santorum 13.3 percent (222,799), Ron Paul 7 percent (117,104), other 1.3 percent (21,613). ).

Beware the loser that will promise you the Moon! 

Wondering Why the Christian Alliance seems so familiar?

Harper looking None too Happy
to be photographed
outside of Alliance Church

"About two decades ago, Harper shifted away from the mainline Protestant denominations of his father and began finding a home in the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, which has about 2.5 million members and 14,000 congregations worldwide. One fifth of its members live in North America, with Alberta a Canadian hotbed.

Since Harper moved in 2003 to Ottawa, he has been attending the capital city's Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, called East Gate, under the guidance of Pastor Bill Buitenwerf.

On the outside, RockPointe Church looks like a bunker. On the inside, it's a cavernous auditorium with no crosses, altar or pulpit. Instead it has a "stage" on which its many pastors champion conservative moral values while strolling like casual talk-show hosts, remarking on how "cool" things are, exclaiming "Right on!" and referring to adherents as "You guys."

Trask believes the more than 2,000 evangelical Protestants in his thriving church, as well as most of the 2.5 million evangelicals across the country, are enthusiastic supporters of his old friend, the prime minister. "Read more:

And Who Do They Work for North of the Border?

Knocking on Doors? Seriously? Via Tele-Town-Halls? 

Matt (below) is the CEO of FPS

Yeah they will bring us into the Twenty first Century all right.
Complete with Republican Dirty Tricks

Dean Del Mastro? That Rings a Bell eh?

View this entire FPS Rant on another ttSm page

And yet Another Contradiction by Front Porch Strategies who have Categorically Denied that they even Make

Automated Calls!

A link to the FPS Video
So, do you still think that the Harper Government has no idea what went on with all the calls that they paid for during the election? 

They seem pretty damned well organized to me, even taking the time to thank the company that was kind enough to bring American attitudes and issues right to their door. Are you comfortable with front Porch Strategies importing their Pro-life and Anti-Palestine campaign here?

They do as you may remember, also promote Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum. 

    What Could Be Less Canadian Than That? 

I just wanted to add one final worry about this American Right wing spin machine. They have been saying for a week that they do NOT do Robocalls and only did Tele-Town-Halls on behalf of the Conservatives. As you have just seen that clearly is the case. Oddly they still deny having such capabilities, but they need to be careful what they say on publicly on Facebook.

Feel Free to Comment below.