Steve and Sandra talk tasers

CTV : "RCMP Cpl. Gregg Gillis is the force's expert on Taser training and excited delirium -- the mysterious condition of heart-pounding agitation used as a kind of catch-all label by those who can't otherwise explain why a growing number of people have died soon after being zapped."

Heh.

Steve and Sandra throw Brian under a bus

To : The Ministers of Whatever and your various meaningless minions

From : The PMO

"Effective immediately and until further notice, none of you are to utter the name Brian for any reason whatsoever. Needless to say, talking to anyone named Brian is also strictly forbidden.

Some of you nobodies have displayed the unfortunate lack of foresight to name your firstborn Brian. Too bad, no exceptions.

Signed,

Sandra Buckler

PSA : Steve Won't Teabag Brian No More

TGB : Trouble in the Conservative Sandbox

Steve and Sandra have a cold one

New set of Tory attack ads

Poilievre provided the "normal....having a cold one" quote.
Dickhead.
As Dave says : "Welcome to the Reform agenda. It hasn't changed save for the political party name under which it exists."

Steve and Sandra - I am so the boss of you

Steve says 2011
Hillier says :"Afghanistan's army could need 10 years before it's in a position to fend for itself."
Dave says : "If anyone knows what it takes to train an army, it's Sandra Buckler."

In his non-retraction retraction, Hillier says : "I'm very clear on where the direction comes from. … We're on exactly the same page and I believe actually we see things exactly the same way."
He doesn't scale back to 2011; instead he implies that Harper also knows it will take another decade.
So either the war on Afghanistan is a bad idea and the sooner we get out the better, or the reconstruction is a good idea and we should stay till it's done.

Picking the date 2011 merely fulfills our duty to NATO and has fuck all to do with what's good for Afghanistan.

Steve and Sandra and the Throne Speech

G&M : Liberals may let Throne Speech pass, Dion says

"The trigger for a fall election will not be pulled this week, provided Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Throne Speech is not outrageous, radical and very right-wing," said Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion yesterday.

CP : "The Harper government believes the Liberals are so desperate to avoid an election that they'll accept a speech describing Kyoto climate-change targets as unattainable."

H/T : Accidental Deliberations

Steve and Sandra : Get It Right, Alberta!

Reuters : "International oil producers will flee Alberta if the Western Canadian province's government implements a proposed hike to oil and natural gas royalties and taxes, according to Tristone Capital Inc, an investment bank that serves the oil and gas industry."

HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA

Steve and Sandra Get Things Undone

All this, and they were only elected with 36% of the popular vote

Steve and Sandra - A Secure and Prosperous Partnership

"Only 'virtual protests' allowed at North American summit

H/T Dawg's Blawg and Accidental Deliberations

Steve and Sandra - Spinning the war

Steve and Sandra Go to the G8 : Something or other about 2050

Some previous G8 something or others :

At the G8 Gleneagles Summit in 2005, world leaders promised Africa debt relief, drugs for AIDS and double the annual aid within five years.

Just one year later, total aid from G8 countries actually dropped. Canada's aid fell by 9%; the US by 20%.

Another previous G8 promise : to write off the debts of the 18 poorest African countries.This year's debt in interest alone? A billion and half dollars. Or, more than those countries saved from the debt relief they got in the first place.

If you don't count Bush's nostalgia for the good old days of the arms race in Europe, you can at least say that this year the G8's aren't making any promises they can't keep.

On The Map with Avi Lewis

Steve and Sandra - Dressed to Kill

Just so we're clear here : Steve, who didn't serve in the military, went off on Dion for not serving in the military and Ignatieff for spending time in academia outside the country, because Dion called for the resignation of an incompetent Con cabinet minister who used to serve in the military.

When called on it, Steve said :
"It's true I've never served in the armed forces," the PM admitted. "I consider that an experience in my life that I've missed. But I can say, Mr. Speaker, that I've always worked and lived and paid my taxes in my country."

As Tim put it in The Canadian President : It's really a right wing twofer for Harper. He gets to criticize people who have not served in the military (hypocritical prick that he is) and he gets to sneer at an academic. It's all good!
Got it? No? Just think of it as a more childish variation on "I know you are but what am I?"
The Galloping Beaver : Harper the warrior king, channeling Dick Cheney
Canadian Cynic : Too stupid to know they've been towel-snapped

Steve and Sandra motivate their troops

What? You never wondered what might be playing on some of those little earpieces everyone wears in Question Period ?

Steve and Sandra - In the Year 2025

Relentlessly Progressive Economics :

"The Harper plan is for a 20% reduction by 2020, and will be 13 years late in meeting the Kyoto targets (6% below 1990 levels by 2025). The 18% number is an intensity-based reduction – that is, per unit of output – not a total decrease.

For what it is worth, the intensity of Canada’s CO2 emissions fell by 13% between 1990 and 2005, according to Environment Canada. This was a time when our actual emissions went up by 24%."

Steve and Sandra's blackouts

Link : What Ottawa doesn't want you to know

Steve and Sandra sponsor a scandal

Hands up anyone who gives a rat's ass about AdScam.
In this Allen Gregg piece we get some perspective :
"Being discussed concerned commissions paid to advertising agencies in relation to the Federal Government’s (since abandoned) sponsorship program.

The amount in question was $100 million over a four year period or approximately $25 million per year. Based on an annual operating budget of $180 billion, the amount for which “little or no value” could be found represented .015% of the tax dollar entrusted to government for that year.

Steve and Sandra - Voila notre $233 billion!

Flaherty's budget speech - Voila le trick ou treat.

Steve and Sandra's Gnu Accountability

The GnuGovs want to know if Canadians are cool with there being no accountability in their GnuGov Accountability Act. Because as we all remember from their campaign in the last election, nothing, repeat nothing, is more important to Canadians than cleaning up government by making lobbyists and their government contacts accountable.

Gnashing of teeth continues at Creekside

Steve and Sandra's State Craft

Reuters :
"Canadian police concluded a probe into a 2005 income trust scandal on Thursday without charging any Liberal politicians even though the scandal contributed to that party's electoral defeat last year.The RCMP said it is charging only one person -- a senior civil servant in the Finance Department -- as a result of its investigation.The governing Conservative Party, while in opposition, had accused the then Liberal finance minister, Ralph Goodale, and his office of directly leaking information to investors of an imminent tax policy announcement regarding income trusts, allowing the investors to make tidy profits.
"If Mr. Goodale wants an apology, he should go to the RCMP and ask them whether they're still investigating him and ask if this is a conclusion," said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty."

Good idea, Jim.
Because if, in his capacity as general director of analysis at the tax policy branch of the Department of Finance up until Wednesday, Serge Nadeau made a single illicit dime on the Cons watch in the last year, well then I guess it's only fair if we paint the entire Con party as corrupt, right?

Steve and Sandra go green!

CBC : U.S. urges "fivefold expansion" in Alberta oilsands production
CanWest : Ottawa hails nuclear energy for oilsands
Creekside : Subsequent hand-wringing by me

Steve and Sandra and the Clean Baird Act

All Baird quotes courtesy of today's CBC Almanac.
Trouble with Rona was - she didn't talk loudly and just didn't use her boots enough.