Steve and Sandra and Canada's New Accountability

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Steve and Sandra and MiniTrue

Globe&Mail :
"Sandra Buckler, the communications director for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, has asked that staff working for Conservative cabinet ministers secretly provide her with assessments of their bosses' communications skills."

Steve and Sandra get things done

The ubiquitous slogan : "Getting things done for all of us"
Shorter : "Getting things for us" and "Things done for U.S."

Steve's communications director Sandra Buckler fired off several rounds of bucklershot yesterday not explaining why London North Centre Con candidate Dianne Haskett is not permitted to speak to the media [Ed. note - Gays! Guns! GOP! God!] as part of her campaign.

Sandra finished with a new variation on the theme :
"Vote for a candidate that will be a part of a government that gets things done for families and taxpayers."

Whoa, Sandra. Waaay too friggin long, girl.
Try these instead : "Vote for Families" and "Things for Taxpayers".

Steve and Sandra and Same Sex Religion

The always wonderful Chris Hedges : Letter From Canada

Steve and Sandra send regrets

Globe&Mail : "Stephen Harper has surprised and annoyed European Union leaders by cancelling a planned Canada-EU summit, where he was going to be criticized for abandoning this country's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming."

Steve and Sandra and Acts of Spam

Steve and Sandra and not Garth

A little recent history and a nudge from Canadian Cynic.

Steve and Sandra and the faith-based thing

Amid stories of the no longer secret Republican Party derision of the fundies down south, comes this quote from Harper in his Reform days, as reprinted in The Star:

"In the United States, this (social conservative) element of the electorate has been critical in the development of the Republican coalition. It provides workers and funds disproportionate to its size as a voting bloc."

Steve and Sandra - NAU you see it...NAU you don't

NDP Trade Critic Peter Julian has raised the question of the secret conference at the Banff Springs Hotel organized by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. He will be making access to information requests.
Good for him, but he will be up against these guys.

Steve and Sandra and the lighter side of torture

US Congress, with the help of 12 Democrats, has suspended the right of habeas corpus. Bush is now officially in the business of disappearing people without trial, and authorizing interrogation methods the UN considers illegal. In addition, immunity from prosecution is now retroactively granted to the perpetrators of all previous abuses.

In a story in the Toronto Star regarding Canada's ongoing complicity in the Arar case, there is this tragic little sidebar, with a quote from a State Department official regarding their decision to send Arar to Syria.
It reads in part :
"there were assurances that [Arar's] treatment would meet the standards of the Geneva Conventions," he told a briefing. "We had to have a reasonable expectation that he was not going to be tortured or maltreated. We were able to assure ourselves of that."
Not any more.

Steve and Sandra play their base

Steve : Whoa! What, no cartoon this time? Where's the frames?
Sandra : We seem to be the victims of some kind of funding cut, sir.

Steve : Hey, how are our own funding cuts playing to the base?
Sandra : Excellent, sir. They clearly demonstrate we don't like research or drugs or uppity women or gays or aboriginals. But that isn't even the best part....

Sandra : No, the best part is how they're reacting to the big cheque moment. They think you invented it, sir. Many of them don't realize that the $13 billion surplus was accrued under the Libs or that it must be applied to the debt every year by law or that the Libs paid down $82 billion in the last decade alone.

Steve : Yeah, well, it's all about optics. Speaking of which...Sandra, what are you wearing?
Sandra : Why, sir....this is rather unexpected...my red power jacket. Why?

Steve : Because it's Wednesday, Sandra. Wearing red on Wednesdays is not supporting the troops.
Sandra : Sorry, sir. I was just wearing red in my spare time. Won't happen again, sir.

Steve and Sandra's "Two Bit Plan"TM

Cerberus notes that Steve's "The Five Priorities"TM have suddenly morphed into "The Four Pillars"TM

Steve and Sandra and shell and pea

From the Globe&Mail :
"It's expected to take many months for U.S. Customs to return lumber duties to eligible companies and Ottawa will advance the refunds through the Export Development Corp."

From the EDC :"Canada Account transactions are negotiated, executed and administered by EDC—but the risks under the Canada Account are assumed by the Government of Canada."

Steve and Sandra and Canada's New Governments

From a link at My Blahg.
The Gazetteer has a couple of ideas about it.

Steve and Sandra and "Operation Enduring Heroin"

Dave at The Galloping Beaver covers Operation Wash Rinse Repeat
Update : "Afghanistan's world-leading opium cultivation rose a "staggering" 59 percent this year, the U.N. anti-drugs chief announced Saturday in urging the government to crack down on big traffickers and remove corrupt officials and police."

Steve and Sandra do the laundry

CathiefromCanada has the links. Some more thoughts from POGGE.
Accidental Deliberations has been on this from the beginning.

Meanwhile here's David Emerson, pretending to miss the point entirely :
"International Trade Minister David Emerson said Thursday that threats to vote against softwood lumber legislation show the Opposition parties are anti-American.
"I know that both the NDP and the Liberals are staunchly anti-American in their inner core," Emerson told The Canadian Press in an interview Thursday."

What a dick.

Steve and Sandra and the Five Noble Truths

Steve and Sandra - Defending the Arctic

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Steve and Sandra

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