It sure don't take a Weatherman

I had meant, the other night, to highlight a CTV non-moonbat moment... but was too rattled by the event itself to commit anything to print. A less war-weary person might have characterised it as "a breath of fresh air"... but I remember thinking... "What the hell are they up to now?"

Basically, it came down to the various left-leaning talking heads acknowledging among themselves that Stephen Harper was indeed "scary smart"... and that, this time around, to paraphrase LBJ... the Liberals apparently "couldn't pour piss out of a boot, if the instructions were written on the heel."

Of course, these guys are all privy to a little media peekaboo... and they're all desperately trying to get ahead of the next pitch... which last night, came screaming right across home plate...

“The bottom line is that the Conservatives are in significantly better shape in these battlegrounds in the three provinces than they were in the election,” said Peter Donolo, a partner with polling company the Strategic Counsel.

“People who reside in these ridings think the country is on the right track.”

I have to confess right here, to a moment of unadulterated glee... imagining Peter Donolo, Teflon Jean's former Director of Communications... bleeding from his ears... as he contemplated releasing the results of this latest poll.

The fact is, only diehards like Cherniak still think Stephane Dion has a chance of weathering, never mind overcoming, the rising storm. It could be, that things are even more volatile than folks have previously imagined.

It oughta be an interesting five weeks.

**********

RELATED: Meanwhile, south of the border

According to Safire’s Political Dictionary, the “heartbeat away from the presidency” locution may date from 1952, when the Democratic nominee, Adlai Stevenson, attacked the Republican V.P. candidate, the 39-year old Richard Nixon, “who asks you to place him a heartbeat from the presidency.”

A half-century before, William McKinley’s campaign manager, Mark Hanna, alarmed by the prospect of the 41-year-old Teddy Roosevelt as the V.P. nominee in 1900, is reported to have warned “that there is only one life between the Vice President and the Chief Magistracy of the nation.”

In neither case were voters moved by the “heartbeat away” concern.

McKinley and Eisenhower both won easily.

*

Tonight's CTV Moonbat Moment

So I'm sitting there on the computer, not really paying that much attention to the CTV Ottawa affiliate... when I hear... "My son is not a killer. My son is just a accident. It could have happened to anybody."Which just doesn't sound right. I mean, I have to check to make sure I heard it right.

But sure enough, this woman is right there on television... defending the indefensible.

"Everybody deserves a second chance in their life and he didn't get one," said Dionne Pearson.

Hey, Dionne, maybe you mean... like Michael Oatway... the man your son murdered?

"He put the knife to Michael Oatway, said, 'Give me that iPod. Michael, frightened, outnumbered, said, 'I can't do that.'"

"It was his girlfriend's iPod," Mr. McDermott said, as if by way of explanation. "He'd borrowed it."

S.M. then upped the ante, the prosecutor said: "Give me that iPod or you're going to get cut."

Mr. Oatway died of a stab wound to the heart.

Hey, Shawn, buddy... love the warmup jacket.

**********

RELATED: Christie Blatchford weighs in

-- OTTAWA -- On Sept. 21, 2006, a young man who can be identified only as S.M. fatally stabbed a remarkably well-loved and gentle fellow named Michael Oatway, who, until the moment of his encounter with S.M., had been sitting quietly at the very back of an Ottawa-Carleton Transpo bus, listening to music, looking out the window and minding his own business.

Mr. Oatway's mistake was not to cower properly before S.M. and his three friends as they effectively surrounded him in the narrow rear confines of the bus, S.M. smartly directing him, at knifepoint, to hand over his iPod.

For this solitary and magnificent act of defiance, Mr. Oatway, all of 23, died.

Now... I imagine Deputy Dawg & his fellow traveller Canadian Cynic are gonna go apeshit... yet again... about what a racist I am.

Maybe they should try that tactic out on these guys... or better yet, the family of Michael Oatway.

Sitemeter tells me I'm getting all kinds of hits originating from old articles at Kathy Shaidles blog. Looks like there's gonna be another mammoth linky love-fest from the lunatic left.

**********

POSTSCRIPT: CJOH-TV in Ottawa...

...has to be the most ridiculous media operation in all of Canada.

Talking Head Max Keeping does stuff with the English language that make Stephane Dion sound like Winston Churchill. I'm sure there are drinking games at U of Ottawa... where you have to chug your beer... every time Max mangles a sentence, or steps on someone else's words.

Oh yeah, apparently there's an upcoming... and I shit you not... series on headlice.

I'm just itchin' to see that.

*

Tonight's CTV Moonbat Moment

Oops... the corpse that used to be Lloyd Robertson just slipped up and asked the Prime Minister if he could work with "an NDP-led Coalition." --

He immediately pulled it back... but it was a golden moment. I should have been counting all the times ol' Lloyd used the words "dictatorial" & "controlling."

Not even a pretense of objectivity. Amazing.

Tonights CTV Moonbat moment

Just watched five term City Councillor Diane Deans on the CTV affiliate CJOH... explain why the city of Ottawa is in such financial straits.

Apparently, Diane lays this misfortune squarely at the feet of the evil Mike Harris government... very specifically citing the "downloading of social programs" to municipalities in Ontario.

It seems though, that Ms. Deans is having some sort of seniors moment. On her own website from February of this year, she reports as follows...

On January 29, two colleagues and I attended a hearing of the Provincial Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs to tell the Provincial government what the City of Ottawa would like to see in the 2008 Provincial Budget.

We asked that the Ontario government help municipalities become more financially sustainable *** "by uploading the cost of social programs" *** and public health, and to help us fund a youth treatment facility for Eastern Ontario.

Now, for anybody who has been living in a cave since 2003... that meeting would be with... not the long-gone Harris government... but the two term McSlippery regime.

So, Diane... does your pal Dalton... who has been running things in Ontario for five years now... and who has decidedly not reversed the Harris government downloading decision... not bear any of the responsibility here?

Funny how that works.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Don't suppose Deans mentioned that McGuinty closed the Rideau Correctional and Drug Treatment Center on the Southern border of Ottawa and Montague Township, eh?"

*

Tonight's CTV Moonbat Moment

Totally missing the point that "competitive sports" are all about, well... "competing"... tonight reporter Roger Smith spent five minutes lamenting the fact that Team Canada refused to back off at some point in their 15-0 blowout over Kazakhstan.

When exactly, did hurt feelings take precedence over excelling and winning?

The Oprah-fication of North America continues apace.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I'm waiting for some moonbat to say it was a disproportionate number of goals."

**********

ASK A KAZAKH:

"Evgeni Bolyakin, player of the game for Kazakhstan, feels it's better for his team's development to play and lose in Division 1 than return to Division 2."

"It's better to play in the more prestigious group," Bolyakin said through an interpreter. 'We're learning, especially against teams like Canada'."

*

Tonight's CTV Moonbat moment

CTV's Gallery Talk & uber-analyst Bob Fife expounding on a poll that was favorable to the Conservatives...

"I wouldn't read too much into it... the Prime Minister has a knack to screw it all up." --

And he doesn't stop there...

"I don't know what he's been smoking... it's not the Stephen Harper we're used to." --

So Bob... is the Prime Minister a doper... or just incompetent?

Bias... what media bias?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Frankly my dear - I don't give a Fife."

Easy guys... don't pull a think muscle

Hanoi Jane & her BFF Iggy... swing for the fence...

The opposition focus today is on the slap down by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the Conservative government’s failure to invite other Nordic nations to yesterday’s Arctic summit.

Oh, good grief... even the guy she's been married to for decades... doesn't take "Shrillary" this seriously... maybe because she's just as slick & slippery as he is.

So, Michael... policy-wise... we're gonna stick with, "I'm not Stephen Harper."

Hope you've got a Plan B.

**********

UPDATE: Tonight's CTV Moonbat Moment

Count Floyd & chief Iggy cheerleader Bob Fife seem to have done a 180... and suddenly decided that bringing Canadian troops home by the 2011 deadline is a bad thing. They don't come right out & say that... but the inference is as subtle as an ice-cold toilet seat. They even brought in a British spokesman to say that Canadians should stay.

Apparently it's okay to kowtow to an American president as long as it's Barack Obama. And that Hillary Clinton? She's just one straight-talkin' (translation: she's demanding the Canadian government support abortion on demand) gal.

Amazing... they don't even pretend not to have an agenda.

Tonight's CTV Moonbat moment

Just watched CTV... a virtual arm of the Liberal Party of Canada... taking yet another run at the Conservatives on the 11 o'clock news.

This exquisitely choreographed media stunt implied that the only obstacle to springing a Canadian potatoe farmer from a nasty Lebanese jail... was for Stephen Harper to fire up his laptop and gin up a get out of jail free card.

Maybe I'm not as plugged in as Lisa & company... but is that how international diplomacy works? Have these meticulously assembled and suitably sombre family members, after careful consideration & negotiation with the Lebanese government... wait a minute...

Henk Tepper's wife and sister were joined by two Liberal senators who have rallied to the man's cause: Pierrette Ringuette and Mac Harb.

Okay, okay... the man behind the curtain... now I get it.

Call me cynical, but again I've gotta ask... is anybody else (professional journalists aside) getting even a little bit tired of politicians shamelessly trotting out tearful family members to take public potshots at the enemy?

Harb said Lebanese officials have indicated that should the federal government make a formal request for Tepper's return to Canada, "that request will take precedent over all other requests."

Which is, one... simply not true and, two... has been known not to be true... for a week before the Liberals' little dog & pony show...

"The Lebanese government specifically dismisses the allegation that a simple letter would release Mr. Tepper and affirms that it must act in accordance with Lebanon's international legal obligations when faced with a request for extradition."

Are Pierrette Ringuette and Mac Harb actually accusing Lebanon & Algeria of falsifying charges against Mr. Tepper... charges that can be dismissed with a little governmental nudge-nudge-wink-wink? I'm no diplomat, but it seems to me that might not actually help Mr. Tepper's case.

Funny, though how nobody (least of all two unelected Liberal senators) seems to be asking if the charges, (apparently Mr. Tepper is being held on an Interpol warrant) which involve falsifying documentation to ship tainted potatoes to the Middle East... are, in fact, justified.

That, of course, is not something anyone cares to address.

**********

RELATED: Kneejerk political intervention...

...it's a Liberal thing.

Tonight's CTV Moonbat Moment

Just watched Craig Oliver's take on Conservative Cabinet Minister Jim Prentice leaving government service for a plum job at one of Canada's chartered banks.

Oliver did his best to spin yet another yarn about Prentice being forced out by that evil chess-master Stephen Harper... who apparently coerced Prentice into... and I quote... a "dead end job" as Minister of the Environment. Sure, Craig... Prentice just sat around on his ass all day, because Stephen Harper wants to poison the planet.

You nailed it, boyo... this had absolutely nothing to do with a ten-fold increase in remuneration, stock options... and the opportunity to escape the silly-arse scrutiny of, say... Craig Oliver and pals.

Good grief.

**********

UPDATE: No big surprise I guess...

...look where CTV got their talking points...

Deputy Liberal leader Ralph Goodale said Prentice was a well-regarded MP and his departure raises questions about whether the Harper government is "essentially hostile to the environment."

And let's not forget Commie Jack...

"I have no doubt that he must have had some frustrations dealing as minster of the environment with Mr. Harper who has never put the environment as a top priority at all."

Hey... who wouldn't wanna work in a classy place like Parliament Hill?

**********

LAST WORD: The Lunatic Left

The good news is... you always know where they stand.

Tonight's CTV Moonbat Moment

Just watched former Dipper and sometime Fiberal Leadership candidate Bob Rae claim that he had been... "called a 'Taliban lover' by Stephen Harper and others."

And nobody calls him on it.

Amazing.

**********

1st RUNNER UP: Toronto "Red" Star puff piece...

...on the woman Iggy left his wife and kids for...

In the most treasured classics, lovers face obstacles, delays and misunderstandings that sweep them to the brink of despair. They come from different worlds, sometimes disliking each other at the outset. With each separation, tension builds, until a final plot twist seals their fate.

Oh... puke.

What if he gets sick and tired of Canada too?

*

No leftwing media bias here

Watching CJOH News, the CTV affiliate in Ottawa... and just heard CTV's Bob Fife provide the moonbat moment of the week...

"Gary Lunn is acting like a blind man at a shooting range."

Unbelievable.

Let CTV know how you feel.

**********

RELATED: Gary Lunn defends his rationale

“The extended shutdown of the reactor threatened a national and international health crisis,” Mr. Lunn told the Commons Natural Resources committee.

“If we had not acted, people would invariably have died.”

Interesting analysis at the Phantom Observer.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

Fife was even worse on the morning broadcast BEFORE Lunn testified. He apparently is a psychic, he was blathering on about how Lunn will have been well prepped and was bashing his testimony before it happened.

**********

LAST WORD: Who's zoomin' who?

Canada's Auditor-General repeatedly raised red flags over internal management issues at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. under previous Liberal governments, according to newly released documents.

*

The life of a modern Toronto teen

Apparently, it ain't all sockhops, sodas and greased back hair...

The police dog search led police to the accused who was hiding under a porch.

Police say they also found a nine-millimetre handgun.

A 17-year-old is facing charges.

**********

RELATED: Your CBC Moonbat moment

CBC Radio is still beating the sacred victimhood drum over the reformulation of Oxycontin. For those not in the loop, said reformulation is designed to make the pills harder to shoot & snort.

That's a good thing, right? Well, not according to CBC. Apparently making junk harder to shoot will cast a biblical plague of misery across the land. Well... somebody's land, anyway.

I confess I had some difficulty deciphering the code. For instance...

"There are 10,000 addicts living on aboriginal reserves."

My first thought was, whoa... there's hospitality and then there's HOSPITALITY... until I realised what they meant was that there were 10,000 aboriginals abusing oxycontin.

My favourite quote, though, has to be... "Clients are using alternative sources of supply"... which translates, roughly, into... "I bought it off Biker Bob at the bar"... which, not too surprisingly, has very little to do with health care or Big Pharma.

But that won't stop the dedicated professionals at the Mother Corpse.

Just you wait & see.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"One of the interesting theories is that northern communities are being intentionally flooded with Oxycontin."

"The gist is, when they couldn't get us with smallpox and TB, they're trying again, this time, with pharmaceuticals."

What's new about...

...the NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY?...
Well, I guess they got over that whole wallflower thing.

**********

UPDATE: Tonight's CTV Moonbat moment

Sandi Rinaldo on the 11 o'clock news remarks on George Zimmerman's reported disappearance... notes that the Black Panther Party have a reward "for his capture."

Read slower, Sandi... the Panthers have actually offered to take him "Dead or Alive."

**********

LAST WORD: Putting the "pro"...

...in professional journalism.

Wednesday CTV Moonbat moment

See, Lloyd... if that were actually true... they wouldn't be dead, would they?

-- "He really loved and cared for them." --

**********

RELATED: CBC joins the 'peecee' party...

According to Pravda-West, the story has now... contrary to previous accounts... evolved to state that the father was so incapacitated by the cold... he couldn't speak for eight hours...

"Because of his injuries, Christopher wasn't able to speak until about eight hours later. When he did speak to investigators at around 1:30 p.m., he asked about his daughters."

That's funny... that's not how the story was initially reported...

The father of the girls was picked up by police early Tuesday morning, suffering from exposure to the extreme cold.

"He was conscious, he was awake," said RCMP Sgt. Brad Kaeding.

*

Another CTV Moonbat Moment

Lloyd and company really outdid themselves tonight.

There was a piece that was supposed to be about the Conservatives extending the amnesty on rifles and shotguns... you know... the Liberals infamous and totally ineffectual 2 billion dollar "Farmer Bob Rifle Registry."

In the midst of a slow montage of various pictures of rifles and shotguns sitting in racks... CTV suddenly cuts to a jarring clip of a man firing an MP5 submachinegun... a restricted weapon used primarily by SWAT Teams around the world.

The obvious implication was that Stephen Harper, who apparently has no respect for human life, was loosing a plague of automatic weapons upon the land.

CTV then followed up this little stunt by showing gun control spokes-bigot Wendy Cukier claiming that long guns were responsible for the majority of gun homicides in Canada... which, I assume, would be a bit of a surprise to family and friends of the majority of Toronto murder victims.

It seems though, that wasn't enough for our friends at CTV.

When I went to their website, the article there had a picture of an AK-47 assault rifle... the weapon of choice worldwide... not for farmers, hunters or target shooters... but third world terrorists.


I suppose I should just be happy they didn't try slip in a shot of a bazooka.

**********

UPDATE: We could try some actual facts

Both the rate of handguns and rifles/shotguns decreased in 2006, while the rate of sawed-off rifles and shotguns doubled from 2005.

It also meant that stabbing deaths outnumbered homicides involving firearms. Some 210 victims, just over one-third of the total, were killed by stabbings, 20 more than the number killed by shootings.

In 2006, handguns accounted for 108, or over half, of the 190 victims killed by a firearm. A further 36 victims were killed by a rifle/shotgun, 24 by a (totally illegal and thus not eligible for registration) sawed-off rifle/shotgun and 22 by another or unknown type of firearm.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: Via reader James

Actually, the CBC's total cost figure of $2 billion for the entire gun registry "file" amounts to about $685,000 per day, which means they spent the entire initially estimated budget of $2 million, again according to the CBC, every three days, for eight years straight.

That's 20,000 man-years, to register 7 million guns. But what do I know, I'm just a software guy, I'll stick to the database system.

Corporations get sued for cost overruns on the order of tens of percent. Assuming my careful $10 million estimate is reasonable, the registry database is not 10 % over. It's not 100 % over. It's not 1,000 % over.

It's 7,500 % over.

**********

LAST WORD: Paging kooky Wendy Cukier

Of Canada's two million licensed gun owners, 111, or 0.00555%, used their firearm to murder someone.

On the other hand, in 2005, 64% of accused murderers had a prior criminal record, including 6% for homicide.

*

Wednesday night CTV...

..."moonbat moment"...

Lloyd and company went to town last night about a United Nations report that says Canada is pushing vast quantities of meth and ecstasy on the rest of the unsuspecting world.

Well, that sure brought me up off the couch. Staid, boring, law-abiding Canadians are turning into compassless, violent drug lords?

Seriously?

Well, not exactly. Somebody at CTV, unintentionally I'm sure, let slip some actual facts.

Turns out this is all about... and I wrote this down so I'd get it exactly right... "sophisticated Asian crime groups based in B.C."

Who knew?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Canadians are such bad people! My TV 'news' told me so!"

*

Tonight's CTV Moonbat Moment

Apparently CTV has decided to preempt most of the national news tonight to cover the retrieval of the trapped Chilean miners.

And boy-o-boy... Count Floyd & Lisa LaFlamme are milking this alpaca for all it's worth. I haven't heard excitement like this since the television coverage of the moon landing.

So far we've heard about all the medical dangers the miners might face on their 700 meter journey to the surface.

Hells bells... they've even got a name for the container that's gonna pull the guys up outta the hole.

I won't bore you with the banal details, but poor Lloyd is so flustered by not having his teleprompter that he has already called CTV "medical specialist" Dr. Marla Shapiro... "Martha".

Oh gawd... Dr Marla's back... she's yapping about bone loss, muscle loss... blood pressure, sensitivity to light... dear gawd, the miners might vomit on the way up the shaft.... and on and on ad nauseum.

I think I'll go drink some drain cleaner.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"You're an ugly ugly man. I feel sorry for you. I honestly do. It must hurt to live inside your bitter cynical brain."

Yes, Carlos... of course.

Let's reserve the largest part of a daily national newscast for a "rainbows & unicorn" view of the world... instead of, say... the stark reality.

Have a really nice day!

(h/t shaidle)

**********

RELATED: Bias... what media bias?

**********

UPDATE: And again, 24 hours later...

Once again, CTV News has just devoted the first third of tonight's program to this fairy tale. Lloyd has just assured his national audience that we will... "all remember for the rest of our lives... where we were during the 'mine disaster'."

And hey... he promises more mine tales later in the broadcast.

And the final word from reporter Tom Walters? Apparently this event will... "allow us to see a truth about all our lives."

Good grief.

It's all relative, isn't it?

I mean, compared to the CBC, or Lloyd & Lisa... these guys are gonna be the McNeil-Lehrer of the jihadi-sphere...

The CRTC approved a request to carry Qatar-based network Al Jazeera English via satellite, in a decision released Thursday, noting that “AJE will expand the diversity of editorial points of view in the Canadian broadcasting system.”

Heck... no biggie... here's a timely story they can lead off with.

Meanwhile, if you wanna do something useful... wander over here.

**********

UPDATE: Tonight's CTV Moonbat Moment

Just watched Bobo Fife & CTV's spokesman for the undead, Count Lloyd... bantering back & forth about our "diabolical" Prime Minister.

I'm afraid Al Jazeera's gonna just have to stand in line.

*

Tonights CTV Moonbat Moment

Almost fell off my chair this evening as Owly Oliver got the call tonight to explain the origin of the terms "left" and "right". And the Birdman jumped in with both feet. For instance, I bet you didn't know that the Liberals are not a leftwing party.

According to Oliver, the Libs are smack in the center of the political spectrum.

I was also amazed to learn that Stephen Harper himself... the man... according to Oliver anyway... yanking the Conservatives further & further to the right... is also personally responsible for taking the word "progressive" out of Progressive Conservative.

I was waiting for Oliver to try place the Prime Minister on the "grassy knoll" outside the Texas Book Depository... but apparently cooler heads prevailed in the Editing Bay.

They don't even bother to try hide the bias anymore.

Amazing.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Both CTV and CBC are competing for those coveted Liberal Senate seats that the Junta will hand out. Senator Mansbridge, Senator Oliver, Senator Boag, etc."

**********

RELATED: The Toronto "Red" Star wants in

"To the Progressives at #1 Yonge Street, all rights are relative, or at least would be, if only Israel would give them the chance to go into Gaza and show pictures of bloody babies."

*

Tonight's CTV Moonbat moment

So, there's 100 million dollars of taxpayer money disappeared by a community of 1800 people with little or no documentation... and the thrust of this incisive report is about the Harper government smearing poor hunger-striking, but surprisingly still substantial Chief Theresa Spence. Not even the mention of the 800 dollar a day fee being paid to the Chief's live-in boyfriend is enough to set off the smell-o-meter at CTV.

Lisa & Bobbo also heard from 3 separate spokes-natives about the unfairness of actually asking for receipts on the megamillion dollar handout... but not a word from the other side. Not only are we expected to just hand over the big bucks in perpetuity... but asking for any sort of accounting is apparently just more racism.

And this is simply one community among how many? Last I heard, this little boondoggle was a 12 billion dollar line item in the federal budget.

Just something to think about the next time you ponder being a non-aboriginal plowhorse in a fifty percent tax bracket.

**********

UPDATE: Hear no evil, speak no...

Let's ask a Liberal...

"There's no money mismanaged. There's no money missing." - Carolyn Bennett MP, Liberal Aboriginal Affairs critic on the Attawapiskat audit.

Alrighty... problem solved.

**********

LAST WORD: Hmmm... Bennet, Bennet...

...that sounds so familiar...

"Not only did Liberal MPs Raymonde Folco, Carolyn Bennet, Rob Oliphant, Andrew Telegdi and Tom Wappel meet with the designated terrorist group Mojahedin e Khalq, their travel costs to France was included."

Don't blame me, I didn't vote for them.