Another form of revolution

I'm of the belief that the one thing that the Liberal Organized Crime Family (read: the Libranos) can't stand is humor. Any kind of humor.
Joe Volpe's recent top-blowing episode, likening the MPs who were caught laughing at the absolutely hilarious and dead-on Western Standard cover (I can't get a copy of it in my corner of the eastern U.S., more's the pity) to the Klan, makes that blatantly obvious.
When the Libranos become a national laughingstock, their credibility will be shot to hell in a bucket... and we'll be enjoying the ride (apologies to the Grateful Dead for that line).
So, let's start the campaign. DT at mediaright has the songs of the Libranos, Kate at Small Dead Animals has got more wit, and I'll pass this along, with thanks to my compadre in anti-Librano crime, byall.blogspot.com

THE OIL SHORTAGE
A lot of folks can't understand how we came to have an oil shortage here in Canada.
Well, there's a very simple answer.
Nobody bothered to check the oil.
We just didn't know we were getting low.
The reason for that is purely geographical.
Our OIL is located in Alberta.
Our DIPSTICKS are located in Ottawa, ONTARIO.

I'll start compiling jokes (sorry, I'm not adept enough yet to take on the visuals) as you attach 'em. Call it the blogosphere's guide to Libranoland.

Free Canada!

You've gotta see this

DT has struck and you have responded. Visit www.mediaright.ca/Songbook.htm. It's wonderful.
Also, you've got to see http://mkbraaten.blogspot.com/2005/05/usual-suspects.html. It, too, is wonderful.
As is... http://www.madashell.ca/

What colour will the revolution be?

What could be one of the most unusual revolutions in recorded history is about to begin.
If the Liberal Organized Crime Family (aka the Libranos) ignores years of convention and tries to continue to govern after losing a no-confidence vote, there WILL be a revolution in Canada.
In much the same way that the Orange Revolution brought democracy to the Ukraine, continuing protests can do the same for our northern neighbours.
But it's going to be difficult to generate the revolutionary protests.
Here's why:
1. The people who have the most motivation to spark the revolution also generally have the least amount of time to devote to mass demonstrations. They tend to be working and raising families, while the reliable cordon of protesters available for all left-wing causes tend to be students, paid rabblerousers or unemployed types who are much more free to convene for instant gratification.
2. Conservatives tend not to take it to the streets, largely because of (1) above.
However, it's time to get this ball rolling.
If I ever hit the Powerball or Mega Millions (our big bucks Lottos in the US), I'd be willing to come up and join a protest... wherever (I'd love to see Calgary and Vancouver sometime) in support of the good people I've met in the blogosphere.
Still, if the cranially-challenged Tony Valeri stands by his word and has the LOCF/Libranos ignore a no-confidence motion, methinks the good people of Canada will have had their fill.
The hardest part -- picking a colour for the revolution. You don't want red, even though it's in the flag, because red is the colour of the LOCF/Libranos. Orange is taken by the Ukraine, and the lighter blue is a sign of Quebec, which might not be the best course of action thanks to the long-standing separatist movement there.
So, how about a green leaf, one that has not fallen from the tree of freedom?
The Green Leaf Revolution.
Sounds good.
Free Canada!

This week's Top Ten (UPDATED)

Well, after a few days of recuperating from some dental surgery, I see that things are getting curiouser and curiouser north of the border.
Many of the key figures in the impending no-confidence vote have gone into the recording studio and have cut new versions of old songs, some with updated lyrics.
So, in an effort to keep y'all entertained, here's this week's Canadian charts (listed by title, artist and original artist)
Bubbling under...
"Breaking Up Is Hard To Do" by Parti Quebecois (Neil Sedaka)
"Money (That's What I Want)" by Dalton McGuinty (Barrett Strong)
"I Fought the Law" by Chuck Guite and Jean Brault (Bobby Fuller Four)
"Taxman" by Jack Layton's NDP (Beatles)
Now, The Top Ten, all of which are remakes of old songs...
10. "(You don't have to live like a) Refugee" by Judy Sgro (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
9. "I like Chinese" by Reg Alcock (Monty Python's Flying Circus)
8. "Money" by Groupaction and the Earnscliffes (Pink Floyd)
7. "Goin' Down" by the Harper Valley CPC (Bruce Springsteen)
6. "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" by the Liberal Backbenchers (Clash)
5. "Take the Money and Run" by PLQ (Steve Miller Band)
4. "Dirty Laundry" by the CBCs (Don Henley)
3. "Catch Us If You Can" by the Libranos (Dave Clark Five)
2. "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Paulie the PM (Eric Burdon & the Animals)
1. "Don't Bring Me Down" by Paulie and the Libranos (ELO)

UPDATE:
DT has opened a songbook for the Libranos. It's terrific.

Memo to Stephen Harper

Dear Mr. Harper,
At some point in the not-too-distant future, you're going to be facing an election. Your party needs to win it to give your nation a chance at a future.
From south of the 49th parallel comes this viewpoint -- you need to have as a major talking point the elimination of the hated GST.
The GST plays perfectly into several key weaknesses in the Liberal Organized Crime Family that can bolster the CPC cause.
Point 1: Didn't Mr. Chretien, some 12 years ago, while campaigning for election, promise to get rid of the GST? Has it happened? Wow, another Liberal promise broken. No doubt it would be easy to develop a litany of broken promises that the government has made to the people of Canada.
Point 2: With all of the money that the GST provided to the government in Ottawa, did it go to worthwhile purposes? HRDC? Adscam? The gun registry? Waste, waste, waste, waste, waste. The Liberals have wasted billions of tax dollars... at best. At worst, they stole 'em. Again, it would be prudent to attack the incumbent prime minister -- who built his reputation on fiscal responsibility -- for being the fox in charge of the henhouse.
Point 3: The GST is intellectually indefensible. It is a regressive tax, one that hits hardest at those least equipped to pay. Translation: the less fortunate Canadians pay a larger percentage of their incomes in GST than those who are making enough to be able to save a few loonies. Can the incumbent prime minister or his slave in the NDP defend the tax that hurts the very people they supposedly live to help? Hammer the unprintables on that one.
Of course, it would be very helpful to remind Canadians that there were major cuts in federal support for health care under the direction of -- the current prime minister, the one who asserts that only he can save the system, after he placed it in grave danger.
Gee, that sounds like his current campaign stump speech. "Only I can save the country."
If his health care saving efforts are any indication, start carving the tombstone.
This is just one man's opinion, Mr. Harper. But it makes sense to me, and, for Canada's sake, I hope it makes sense to millions more.
Cordially,
--boborr4 at eitherorr.blogspot.com

It's not tearing down the wall, it's moving the wall

The separation of church and state debate has shifted hard to the anti-religious side.
As The Washington Times reported on Sunday (http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050501-124025-3104r.htm), the left sponsored a weekend conference in New York to discuss the "growing political threat" of the faith-based right.
And a Page One analysis (yes, analysis) in the Philadelphia Inquirer on Sunday bore the headline "Right risks a backlash from fears of theocracy." (http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/front/11532961.htm) This analysis asserted that religious conservatives are seeking "a judiciary that would remove the wall of separation between church and state."
As usual, because they do not bother to meet and know people in the faith-based right, they don't get it.
I, for one, have been pushed into the category of "faith-based conservative" because I deeply resent being told that principles that arise from one's faith cannot be aired in the public debate. The most egregious example of that was in 1992, when the Democratic Party (the vehicle for the anti-faith movement in the U.S.) banned the Democrat governor of a large state (Pennsylvania) from speaking at the party's national convention because, as a deeply-held matter of faith, he opposed unlimited abortion rights.
I also deeply resent that a person's "deeply held religious beliefs" are automatic grounds from disqualification from an appellate court position.
So, you see, the wall between church and state has been moved to a point where people of faith are excluded from the public debate. And it's past time to move it back.
I worry more about the separation of state and church. I do not want the state to interfere with the reasonable practice of one's religion. Religious leaders have a duty to their calling to speak out against what they see are injustices. Remember, most of the prophets of the Judeo-Christian heritage weren't exactly the most popular people of their days. Similarly, Mohammed himself made his share of enemies.
When the state attempts -- by veiled or direct threats -- to speak out, as the Canadian government did to Bishop Henry in Calgary, that is an unconscionable breach of the wall... but that's a breach that most of the left would not find disagreeable.
As for the "theocracy" bogeyman, there are two words... Get real. There are too many different groups that can be placed under the banner of the "faith-based right." Getting them to agree on much of anything would literally take an act of God. But there seems to be an agreement that it's time to stand up and bring the values they have incorporated from their faiths into the public arena. They deserve the right to be heard, just as the left deserves the right to be heard. Let the debate proceed on the merits, not on the bogeymen (although that's something the contemporary left doesn't do very well without descending to ad hominem attacks -- the first sign of essential weakness in your own point).
It's just another example of the "elite" trying to jam its views down our collective gullets. And it's more than time that they faced such a challenge.

Missing by design?

The case of the vanishing bride-to-be down in Georgia has a happy ending... at least for now.
But the story isn't over yet, if history is any indication.
About 25 years ago, a 15-year-old girl disappeared on a summer Friday afternoon from a popular swim club in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Less than 24 hours after she was last seen, her local police department put out an all-points bulletin advising of the girl's disappearance. (I refuse to use the current phrase "went missing" because I think it's a linguistic abomination.)
It was a typical slow news weekend, so her vanishing act became the lead story on all of the newscasts coming out of the Philly market all weekend.
On Monday, they found the girl.
She had apparently taken off with a couple of guys who were of age and, thanks to all of the publicity surrounding her disappearance, she was spotted in Vineland, N.J.
The guys were charged and eventually convicted on morals charges in connection with the case and the girl was returned, apparently safe and sound, to her parents.
Fast forward about four years.
On a Sunday evening, that same police department was calling the local media again. The girl, now 19, was found dead at the bottom of one of the limestone quarries that dot the landscape of southeastern Pennsylvania. The cause of death? Suicide, the coroner later said.
To this day, I wonder if her decision to take her life wasn't triggered by the events of her disappearance and subsequent discovery.
You always have to think about the possibility of foul play, especially if someone takes off who has never shown an inclination of so doing. That motivated the case in Georgia; that motivated the case in the Philly 'burbs, too.
Now, we just have to hope that whatever transpired doesn't lead any of the principals -- the woman and her then-husband-to-be (who was being examined as a suspect, for crying out loud) -- to more serious problems.
The story isn't over, I'm afraid.
And I am in a position to know... In that lifetime, I was a radio reporter for a small station in the suburbs. I got those calls.