Blue Like You

Several bloggers and readers have noted that MSM’s reaction concerning Prime Minister Stephen Harper being the first Canadian to receive the B’nai Brith International President’s Gold Medallion, has been underwhelming to say the least.

As Sandy pointed out , if you do happen to stumble upon the story, it is buried in news of Harper’s reaction to the Zimbabwe ‘election’ results. I haven’t had any success at all trying to find a MSM link to the award story itself.

Meanwhile, Rob Granatstein bemoans the the tough state of the newspaper industry today - Paying for quality work:

The newspaper industry has been turned on its ear.

The change in the way news is being consumed, from the solid version printed on trees (recycled paper in our case) to the Internet, has been unkind to us in the great, old newspaper business. Not everyone has been able to keep up.

Having the news delivered in electronic form is our future. That’s bad news, potentially, because the economics of producing a newspaper haven’t yet translated into the online world — even with the savings of not having to print and deliver the paper…

I hear him on the last issue. It is tough making any money on the internet from ads. And trying to charge the reader an online fee doesn’t seem to work out either. Just ask the Globe, which recently ‘unlocked’ all online articles.

However, I think there is a healthy balance for MSM and bloggers. Exactly where that balance is and who will pay for it remains to be seen.

But when MSM downplays an important event like the Prime Minister of Canada receiving an historic Human Rights award, or the print media gets scooped by bloggers, you have to wonder where the ‘quality’ journalism really is.

Quick update to the tragic story of Aqsa Parvez if you had been following it.

As you may recall, Aqsa had allegedly been strangled to death by her father for refusing to wear a hijab. Her brother had been originally charged with obstructing justice, but now we learn that Peel police have charged 27-year-old Waqas Parvez with first degree murder.

As Tarek Fatah and Farzana Hassan observed in their Dec. 12/07 Post article, The deadly face of Muslim extremism:

…Radical Muslim men consider themselves ultimately responsible for the conduct of the womenfolk. This outlook is rooted in a medieval ethos that treats women as nonpersons, unable to decide for themselves what they should wear, where they must go and what they must accomplish in life. If their conduct is seen as contravening this austere religious outlook, they are invariably subjected to abuse…

It’s sad that this tolerant society of ours only intervenes after such a tragedy has occurred.

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Related: Excellent article for background information - Honor killings: When the ancient and the modern collide.

I think that part of Stephane Dion’s problem is that he still sees the world from an an academic point of view - If it works in theory, then it should work in real life, no matter what unexpected variable might be thrown into the mix.

This simplistic and rather naive perspective is likely what contributes to his aura of sincerity, but his downfall is that he steadfastly refuses to address the negatives or answer technical questions beyond a theoretical context.

Instead, most questions and criticisms of his carbon tax plan are brushed aside with either a rose-coloured description of how Canadians are intelligent and have ‘big hearts’ - as if that will somehow explain the holes in his platform. (Or else he tells reporters that he’s not talking numbers because they wouldn’t trust him anyway! ) He refuses to even consider the possibility that Canadians will not warm up to it:

…Asked whether his future as Liberal Leader would be imperilled by failing to sell such a complex plan, Mr. Dion denied the plan is complicated.

“I think Mr. Harper is underestimating the intelligence of Canadians, the big hearts of Canadians,” he said. He added that other Conservative Party leaders in the world, including Britain’s David Cameron, have suggested green taxes as a way to fight climate change.

Well, considering that even Dion himself admits that Saskatchewan and Alberta would have to endure the lion’s share of the pain, that would make those residents the most philanthropic citizens in the world if they were to comply. Basically he wants those two provinces to finance his vision for a greener, richer, fairer Canada. His green shaft policy would certainly appear to embody those three peel-ers . I can see why he is so excited to sell the plan.

But would it actually achieve those goals? Terence Corcoran explains how Dion’s policy is not based on solid economic principles, and that similar models in Europe have failed to produce the desired results for carbon emission reductions (Economics only thing shifting):

…He is steadfast in his target — carbon emissions at 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 –even though, as I told him, that would mean removing the equivalent of the entire Canadian transportation (including personal auto use) and the entire electric utility sectors in not much more than a decade.

To get there, Mr. Dion seems to have a clear overview and strategy — how he will negotiate harmonization of his $40-a-tonne carbon plan with British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell’s $30-a-tonne plan to create a $70 joint project; how he will approach a U. S. president to work out a continental cap-and-trade emissions network that Canadian firms could join; how the Green Shift will "be very good for Saskatchewan and Alberta" because the heavy tax loads on their energy producers will prompt them "to invest in Canada more."

Some of this is novel theory, more speculative and fanciful than hard economics. Taxes have never before been seen as a spur to more investment…

Moreover:

…Foreign experience with carbon taxes as economic policy is far from the unequivocal success Mr. Dion talks about. He seemed unaware of the record of job losses and uneven economic performance recorded in Europe in the wake of various environmental taxes and energy price moves. Within specific countries, including Sweden, which the Green Shift plan cites as a model, the role of green taxes is a mixed bag. Alleged boosts to new investment do not take place. And, most telling, the impact on carbon emissions has been limited.

The best and most sobering look at Europe’s green tax experiments is a paper by the Centre for European Policy Studies titled The Political Economy of Environmental Taxation in European Countries. After more than a decade of rampant green taxation and regulation, a sort of lab test for every policy fantasy known to economists and politicians, Europe essentially ended up proving the policies really didn’t work.

(Too much to quote here, but please read the whole article.)

So anyway, there goes 2 of Dion’s three peelers. As for the ‘fairer’ one, well that may be accomplished by a massive wealth transfer to the poor, but is that actually ‘fair’ to the western provinces? Something tells me the answer would be a resounding ‘non’.

Yes, of course we’d all seeing rising prices in everything we use daily, but in the west it would hurt the most. Of course, as one of SDA’s readers (Andrew) noted:

...If Dion becomes Prime Minister, watch Canada meet its Kyoto targets and achieve M. Dion’s reduction targets when Alberta and Saskatchewan leave and take their 40% of "Greenhouse emissions" with them. All of a sudden, the problem is solved.

But how would that leave us ‘richer’, Stephane?

So to sum up Dion’s theory, he feels confident that intelligent, generous Canadians will support his plan.

Well, I guess you’ll have to put me under the dumb and selfish category, because I just don’t get it.

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Update: Post editorial - Liberals are still kicking the West.

And this is a MUST-READ : Lorne Gunter - Dion carbon tax would shaft the west again.

Three BT bloggers assess the reaction of various premiers to Dions’ green shaft:

Steve Janke - No votes? Screw you!

Reid - Green Shaft…

Raphael - How the ‘Green Shift’ is flying around the Premiers.

The above title was adapted from a line in Ezra Levant’s witty post about the debate he had with Susan Cole of NOW magazine. (…only Lesbians can make jokes about Lesbians).

The discussion on CHCH-TV focussed on the BC comedian who made some rude jokes about the lesbian hecklers in his audience. The BC Human Rights tribunal is now musing over whether or not he should go to trial.

Guy Earle explained what all the fuss is about on YouTube via another great post by Ezra. If you don’t mind the four-letter words, please check it out and let me know what you think.

Also, please read Karen Selick’s op-ed in today’s Post - What Ferengis can teach the Supreme Court.

Should HRC’s be telling us what’s funny now? Kinsella says even he may have trouble defending the Nanny State here.

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Update: Ezra’s on a roll tonight. Check this out!

Which of course, ties in with this. H/T Daimnation!

Saturday Update: Finally, some good news on ‘Human Rights’ - Post editorial.

Post - Hate speech complaint dismissed. Get this:

“…We are not surprised at the decision in light of the inappropriate political pressure that has been brought to bear on the commission and that has prompted the commission to set up an internal review of its procedures under [the hate speech section of the Human Right Act,]” he (Faisal Joseph) said…

Were you actually expressing your opinions to your MPs fellow Canadians? Naughty, naughty!

The resistance must continue - David Warren.

Now that I have your attention, let me explain.

First of all, everyone knows that regular people are stupid and Big Government knows best. Liberal Governments are the smartest of them all.

I have proof of this, and as you know, da proof is da proof. And anything that smart Liberal ex-PM said is now irrefutable truth.

So now Stephan Dion is telling us all, and particularly the oil-rich provinces, that we need to suffer some hardship for our own good. Dion knows that the market cannot possibly be relied upon to change human behaviour, and so Big Government must intervene with with a sledgehammer. So it is decided:

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion says 40 per cent of Canada’s carbon emissions come from Alberta and Saskatchewan and the two western provinces will have to do the most to change their habits under his new green plan. But he said it will be good for them - and he’s taking that message to the Calgary Stampede next weekend.

"If we do this plan, Alberta and Saskatchewan will be better off 10 years from now than if we don’t do this plan," Mr. Dion said. "Their economies will be more diversified, their universities will be at the centre of something big happening around the world, and investments will grow."

He rejected the notion that the two highest polluting provinces having to contend with a greater carbon tax burden could result in Western alienation…

See, it’s kinda like a wise and benevolent father doling out punishment so that the kids learn a couple of things. He’d spank them, but of course the Liberal-dominated Senate has ruled out that one. Now Papa Dion has to resort to charging the kids for naughty behaviour everytime they disobey Mother Earth.

It’s like making them throw a quarter in the pot every time they use a swear word. Eventually they’ll stop, right?

Then Papa Dion can give them that jar full of quarters and they can go to university. Uh-huh.

Well the problem is that little Sask and big brother Al might decide to run away from home.

Oh, but they’ll be back Papa, right? We’ll just sit here and wait for them. They’ll be back for sure, dragging their backpacks full of corn-stuffed, Made-in-China Oily’s with them.

Then you can read them a bedtime story about the funny man with the dog named Kyoto who thought he could save the world from global warming by punishing Canadians, ruining the economy and somehow giving them lots of tax treats in the process.

And we’ll all live happily ever after.

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More great links for your reading pleasure:

Michael Harris - Green Shaft not so simple.

Gay & Right - Cap & Trade; carbon taxes just won’t work…

And if this leadership gig doesn’t work out, Stephane Dion always has a fall-back position… Stephane Dion does the weather.

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Saturday Update: Here’s an example of how the high cost of gas is already affecting human behaviour in one segment of the tourist industry - Market for cottages cooling down (Record).

Warren kinsella is not going to be a happy camper when he reads this Don Martin piece - Remarks return to haunt Gomery:

…Jean Chrétien and his hangers-on can claim a technical legal victory from the bias verdict rendered against a judge they openly loathed and mocked.

But in the court of public opinion, he will remain the prime minister who tried to bribe Quebec with our money — and rendered the once-mighty Liberals a pariah in a province that refused to be bought.

Ouch!

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Friday Update : Martin’s article in today’s print edition of the Post provides some quotes from the ruling.

Judge fell for ’spotlight’ - Post.

Saturday Update: Chretien, Martin still at it - Sun.

Wednesday Update: Gomery’s lapses don’t absolve Liberals - Gazette

H/T to Tori for this one…

Is this guy for real?

In a 75-minute session with Sun Media’s editorial board in Toronto, Dion predicted his proposed carbon tax will trigger substantial reductions by 2012, building momentum that he hopes will reach a 20% decrease by 2020. However, he can’t forecast how fast emissions will decrease in the short term.

"I’m confident we will have significant reductions. I’m not telling you specific numbers because you would not trust me," he said.

Okay… and we’re still supposed to take this plan seriously?

And is that another example of the same values that the Liberal party shares with Jennifer Wright’s Green Shift?

Stephane Dion basically wants us to blindly trust him on this one.

We’re to follow him like good little lemmings - right over the cliff.

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More from the Sun Editorial Board:

With numbers, he’s a greenhorn - Lorrie Goldstein.

Dion Green Shift a Green Shaft - Linda Leatherdale.

Dion gets his shift together - Toronto Sun. (And if you look really hard, you’ll see him concede that his "carbon tax might indirectly lead to higher prices at the pumps. "

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Jennifer Wright update - From the authentic Green Shift website:

To all who are visiting this site in interest of what is happening to Green Shift, and/or are questioning whether we have a tie to the Liberal Party of Canada, we want to be very clear – our mission is to help the environment, not to get dragged down by political baggage that we cannot control.

The fact that the Liberal Party of Canada has used our name for their environmental plan is, to say the least, extremely upsetting, and damaging to the reputation that we uphold. We sincerely apologize to all of the businesses, institutions and individuals who are a part of the real Green Shift and sincerely hope that you will not suffer from anyone accidently thinking that you have ties to a political agenda…

More at the Green Shift website.

Also, Dr. Roy has a related post - Grit Arrogance.

Oh, and Jennifer Wright, did you know that you were actually o.k. with the Liberals stealing the name of your company?

SDA weighs in here.

Did anyone else happen to catch Bernier’s speech to les Beaucerons just now?

I thought his speech was very compelling but CTV’s Craig Oliver was not impressed. Waiting for online links to the speech.

The most interesting part was that Bernier says that the documents were Nato notes from a previous trip and did not even warrant a bar code for security purposes. Oliver is surmising that the PM was using this as an opportunity to get rid of him.

Bernier still maintains that he has no memory of leaving them at Mme Couillard’s maison.

The mystery continues.

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Here we go (H/T to National Newswatch): Bernier says he was unaware of Couillard’s past (CTV).

Globe - Bernier pleads ignorance on bikers.

Mike Duffy is reporting on CTV that Christan Paradis has just rolled up for the swearing-in ceremony.

James Moore is expected.

Developing.

10:45 Update: Duff says Fortier may be moved.

CTV Website update.

11:13 Update: Fortier is being sworn in as Minister of International Trade.

11:16 Paradis is being sworn in as Minister for Public Works.

11:17 Moore is being sworn in for Minister of State for the Pacific Gateway, Olympics and Official Languages.

Kady O’Malley is live-blogging here.

CTV - Cabinet swap sees Emerson shifted, Moore promoted.

Jennifer Wright may be surprised to learn that her company "Green Shift" shares the same values as the LPC, according to a quote by Liberal spokesman Joseph Mayer in today’s National Post:

Ms. Wright has threatened to take the Liberals to court over their use of the "Green Shift" as the name of their newly-launched socialist wealth-transfer plan , due to the resemblance to her own company’s name, Green Shift. Unfortunately, she can’t actually afford the legal fight.

Mayer dismisses Wright’s concerns with comments such as, the party "does not pose a commercial threat to the firm" and "most importantly, I think we share the same values as the company."

Now that seems to grate on Ms. Wright’s nerves just a wee bit. She maintains:

"We make our bias the environment, not politics. Our clients don’t want to be caught up in some Liberal campaign, or for that matter, any political campaign."

She clearly does not want to be associated with any political party, and this infringement upon the company’s name is causing major headaches for her.

The Globe’s Bill Curry quotes her as saying that "what they’re doing is so blatantly unethical" .

And I think that’s what it all boils down to - ethics and goodwill. Jennifer Wright may not have a solid legal case here, but in the court of public opinion, she may be right.

As pointed out in the Globe article, there is a precedent where John Baird backed down from using a private company’s name out of sheer respect and compassion.

Stephen Taylor himself was asked by the Liberal Party not to infringe on their trademark and he complied immediately.

But the Liberal Goliath has determined to stomp all over this hard-working, green, female David.

Stephane Dion states at the Green Shift that he wants to "create new, well-paying, green jobs."

Too bad he doesn’t seem to care about one existing company with the same name.

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10 a.m. Update: Jeff Allen has Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi on for the next hour. Andrew will be taking calls about their shifty plan.

Big thanks to reader Barbara for that tip about the Adler interview with Jennifer Wright yesterday. It’s in the vault here. Just click on Tuesday, June 24 at 1 p.m.

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Evening update: Has anyone attempted to contact Stephane Dion yet to register displeasure with the way Jennifer Wright has been treated? One reader emailed me saying that she just received a form letter back. Anyone else?

I’m wondering now if it wouldn’t be better for anyone with a Liberal MP to speak to them back in their home riding - especially when they’re explaining the Green Shift to constituents. Thoughts?

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Thursday Update : Have another look at Jennifers’ Green Shift site! Do you see something new? I admire her spunk. I really do.