Did Chief Janes give thumbs up to email?

On Saturday Sue's Blog dealt with an email allegedly written by the RNC officer who shot Don Dunphy.

Read here

Later - blogger Brad Cabana tracked down a Canadian Press story Read here

The story was a reaction to the email that was allegedly leaked to the CBC and then disseminated by some media outlets to the public.

According to the story - lawyer Erin Breen commented that; the family was frustrated to see this email considering they knew very little about the incident themselves. Further the story contained the following quotes from the lawyer:

1.  “Any time a person is under investigation, any statement they make is potentially evidence. So what you have is potentially a piece of evidence, because it does refer to the incident, being thrown out there in the public domain at a time when this investigation has just commenced,”

2. “That flies in the face of everything that we believe should be happening right now.”



The journalist added that he was unable to reach the RNC to confirm the authenticity of the email.

I agree with the lawyer's concern regarding the potential public release of evidence. When reading it I was questioning how I would even be able to see such information at this time.

Now we need answers to these questions:

1. Was the alleged email actually written by the RNC officer?
2. Was the alleged email vetted by a superior officer before transmitted?
3. Did RNC Chief Janes see the alleged email before transmission?
4. What is the complete list of recipients of this alleged email.
5. Will the team investigating the shooting of Don Dunphy provide opinion on the release?
6. Will media or the RNC authenticate the alleged email?
7. Is this another example of interference in an ongoing police investigation?
8. Does this alleged email break any rules regarding the transmission of evidence during an investigation?
9. Is the release of the alleged email currently under investigation?
10. Was the alleged email leaked to the CBC via the RNC officer involved or was it released by another source?
11. Considering the leaks to the media regarding this case - are the leaks under investigation by the RNC or the RCMP?

Considering the content of the alleged email - these are reasonable questions. The public needs answers. 

Harper meets Homer - D'oh!

It's just as well Prime Minister Harper move in with the Simpson's and give Homer a hand.

D'oh!

Harper now has advised us lowly Canadians from his temporary political hide-out in South America - that he knows why Wright gave Duffy the cash. He says Nigel did it to reimburse taxpayers.

D'oh!

Jeez - how stunned are we - of course that's why Nigel did it.

Harper - the man that Nigel hid the payment from is now going to be perfectly upfront and honest about why he did the deed?

D'oh!

So Nigel hid the news from Harper because?

D'oh!

Nigel could not possibly know that it would damage his confident, his boss, and his friend?

D'oh!

Nigel could not see any problem with gifting a Senator as Chief of Staff for the Prime Minister?

D'oh!

Nigel could not see any problem with gifting him so Mike could repay the taxpayers before the scandal in the Senate worsened?

D'oh!

But we can all breathe a sigh of relief as the Prime Minister knows what was in the head of Nigel - and it was pure.

We can all breathe a sigh of relief because the Prime Minister started talking again - albeit under his restrictions - to the media.

Just as Homer would:

[Meeting the Media] Please don't eat me! I have a Chief of Staff, Cabinet, and Senators. Eat them!

Kennedy and Martin make Dangerous Assumptions

So there's nothing to worry about?

Minister Jerome Kennedy has been assured by Ed Martin that all is okay on the SNC-Lavalin front as it relates to Muskrat Falls contracts. 

This according to a story by CBC of April 30th. 

It's one thing to promote your own intellectual superiority to the people under "normal" circumstances however this statement by Kennedy and through Kennedy by Ed Martin is reckless and stupid. 

The Quebec Engineering Firm is the engineering, procurement and construction manager contractor for Nalcor Energy and is taking applications from companies to prequalify for things like building dams and a powerhouse. 

What are the allegations against SNC-Lavalin former employees?

How about corrupting a public official, fraud and money laundering?

The shareholders are very worried.

According to a Canadian Press story: Its share price has plummeted by 34 per cent, wiping out $3.3-billion worth SNC-Lavalin’s market value as events claimed the employment of three senior executives, including its former CEO.

Meanwhile back here in Newfoundland and Labrador Minister Kennedy and Nalcor CEO Ed Martin have it all under control – no need to worry here!

I do not take any comfort from those hollow words of reassurance. They have no more control over this mess than anybody else. It smells like Enron, it tastes like the Mortgage scam, and looks like a duck.

And by the way – what does SNC mean when they say they are the engineering, procurement and construction manager for Nalcor? Do they mean just Muskrat Falls – because the wording suggests otherwise. 

What an absolute mess the Dunderdale government and Nalcor executives have us in. Just say no to them before it is too late.

Harper - Capitalist Despot - Attacking Canada's Democracy

The question of robo-calls and other various oddities during our last federal election has left many Canadians feeling disenfranchised.

This followed the Conservative in-out scandal from the 2006 election campaign.

Obviously there is a real problem and efforts by the Prime Minister or his Caucus to downplay these events further emphasize the need for concern.

Stephen Harper and his ilk have been playing the Gods of Morality since they entered the federal political scene - they have pushed the value of "family" - as they see it - they have spoken about individual freedoms - as they see them and basically condemned all governments before them.

We were going to get an elected Senate - remember? Harper continues to stuff the Senate with under-qualified partisan buffoons and has removed the public funding of elections - in an effort to maintain power by any means.

Stephen Harper believes that you too will see the "right" way if he and his cronies, MacKay, Baird, and Toews keep spewing it. With that "right" way also comes the arrogance of a class system where they as leaders are above the people who elect them.

The Harper reformers are arrogant, cheating, and lying, despots who believe they owe nobody an explanation. They are opposed to transparency and accountability - all under the guise of knowing what is best for you and me.

These overstuffed suited Byzantinians are not into democracy and they do not believe in our electoral system. The question is - how much trouble are we in?

I contend that if these elections irregularities were noticed in countries where democracy is in its infancy - our independent observers would cry foul. If there are in fact over 30,000 incidents where voters felt their free vote was tampered with in any way - we have an election which should not be valid.

Determining how many "rogues" there were does not make me feel any less angry and I demand that Canada stop this major erosion of our democracy.

I have listened to various media outlets attempting to downplay these irregularities - in part - because they play partisan and in part because the reporters along with millions of Canadians do not want to accept that this erosion is actually real.

We - as Canadians - had better wake-up quickly or we may lose the real values we hold dear and find ourselves surrounded by right-wing economists who are treating our resources and people as part of a collective corporate pot - possessing absolutely zero ethics and social conscience. Canada is a country not a company and it does not belong to entities registered on the various stock exchanges.

That is the real message of young people who stand as anonymous and with the Occupy movement. The wearing of masks simply highlights that we no longer have a face - we are no longer human beings - we are just a cog in a resource extracting wheel that knows no borders and recognizes no human rights.

This Prime Minister was politically raised to do just what he is doing - and for Canadians that spells danger. We must all fight to have our democracy restored and to remove from office these robos that want to vote the people out.

Even posts like this one - coming from an identifiable IP address - are something the Conservatives want control of.

Has the Canadian media become part of Conservative Election Campaign?

To the reader:

Please take the time to read this and then sit back and think about it for a while. Let me know what you think.

Sue

From the gate - Stephen Harper while not taking questions as he exited the Governor General's residence claimed the opposition parties were attempting to form a coalition.

He controlled that message from day one. This was a carefully crafted PR move by somebody and Harper played his role perfectly.

Election called - first message - unquestioned - they want a coalition.

Then came a week of:

The coalition wanted an election - Canadians did not.

The coalition have a plan to take over power - Canadians do not want a coalition.

The coalition will... and so on.

The media for their part - despite any evidence of the foregoing - reported and re-reported that the coalition was the election issue.

Harper played the media like a fiddle - all the while blocking open access to them and limiting questions and controlling the physical environment.

The media like a part of the Harper team - chased Ignatieff here and there and would not allow any questions but those on the coalition. Then Harper "suggested" to the media that they need to get a commitment from Ignatieff that he would not form a coalition. They almost dutifully tracked Ignatieff and asked and asked until - Ignatieff - exhausted from the inability to get to any other subject - mistakenly - promised no coalition.

All the while Harper skirted the real question - on why he was limiting questions and controlling the media - which they have since capitulated and now follow his rules. This did not help the voters or our democracy. It was - in my opinion - one of the greatest media blunders of recent memory.

Next we had Harper segue into the economy - he would say it would not be good for our economy if we had a coalition - it would damage our progress he would add. So then he had the media reporting that Harper's concern was now all about the economy. Throughout this dog and pony show - the public were not treated to a question posse by the media - wherein Harper should have been asked about his problem with democracy and why he felt that Canadians should not be allowed to choose their own democracy - including the possibility of a coalition.

Now the real duping might finally be revealed to our investigative journalists. Harper wanted a commitment in the media from Ignatieff - to not form a coalition - for two reasons. The first is to ensure that if he formed another minority - he would hold on to the job of Prime Minister (or be able to state to Canadians that Ignatieff lied if a coalition were formed) and second to do what the party started today. The Conservative candidates now have the media reporting that even if Ignatieff did not want a coalition - they might vote down the budget and then the Governor General might ask Ignatieff if they might be able to form a coalition.

Where is Stephen Harper in all these games? Unavailable to the media!

Now the coup de grace has arrived as Harper above all people complained that the Liberal ads have him misquoted. This man - a proven liar - a cheat - in contempt is complaining about a quote on universal health care. Now the media has yet another shift in coverage - essentially accommodating Stephen Harper.

Tomorrow it is Quebec and how if a majority is not achieved - Gilles Duceppe will be in a position to move the separatist agenda forward into another vote on sovereignty.

If the media is at all interested in constructive criticism - they might want to consider how they have been used as part of a Harper re-election campaign and begin the process of returning to independent journalists giving Canadians the information they need to make their own minds up.

To the handlers of Michael Ignatieff and to Ignatieff himself - talk to Canadians about our issues and continue addressing problems of contempt, lies, cheating, right-wing fanaticism, and one scary Harper who gets up every day plotting to get and keep power.

Harper's Stategy - The Media not Canadians are stupid

I give Harper and his strategists credit. They have a new twist on politicking in Canada.

Most politicians that are underhanded, deceitful, and/or unlawful usually rely on the population being stupid. For instance in Newfoundland and Labrador - Kathy Dunderdale and the Willderdale administration believe that our people will simply follow her and them blindly into a disastrous development deal on the Lower Churchill.

Harper on the other hand - intelligent - but a liar, decided that Canadians generally speaking are somewhat intelligent and would therefore utilize the media and competent journalists to get a fair and balanced package of information. On that basis - Harper and the Reform Party strategists - set about whipping the national media - and selling his propaganda to them. I believe that a significant portion of the Harper strategy relies on the predictability of the media in delivering his message.

When Harper won his first minority - he started right in on "paralysing" the media by picking and choosing journalists that would be allowed to ask a question let alone the ones he would answer. The Press Gallery uttered their displeasure quietly and then quickly conformed. That same attitude was evident again on Friday when he refused to answer questions after his government had been thrown out of office by the Parliament of Canada. Thrown out under historic conditions as a result of being found in contempt of Parliament. In some societies that shame would be unbearable and with some molecule of remaining integrity they would remove themselves from office while apologizing profusely.

Harper decided some months ago that the issue for the upcoming and planned election would be the evil "coalition". The man who clearly lies with ease and without regret - carries on with his pitch that this election is about a "coalition" who rejected his government's budget initiatives. Like clapping seals or herding sheep the media almost to a one (there were some exceptions) carried his message to the people of Canada - despite his refusal to answer media questions. The fact that Harper would not take questions demonstrates that he does not believe in democratic principles and is paramount to a witness giving testimony without the other side having the right to cross-examine. Harper acts and behaves like a wannabe dictator - stuck in a country that will not give him unfettered access to that title. That is why Canadians fear a majority under this Reform Party ultra-right wing Conservative leader.

The media of our country might want to step back - remember how Harper treated them - and smarten up. A Harper majority would also change the landscape for the "freedom of the press" concept.

Once again - ironically - Duceppe is doing more to preserve Canadian democracy than any Conservative on the campaign trail.

Stephen Harper is a Liar - Terry Milewski CBC finally takes him on.

"my people love me" "all my people love me" says Ghadafi - as protests fill the streets of Libya.

 "the coalition says no" "the coalition said no to" to various budget measures says Harper - as his government was felled by elected representatives for CONTEMPT of parliament.

When Ghadafi does it - Harper and others says he's a delusional dictator.

When Harper does it - the media reports it and re-reports it and fails to correct the lies Harper continues to perpetrate on the people of Canada.

The only difference is - the people of Canada can throw Harper out politically, peacefully at a ballot box.

The media is doing a disservice to Canadians. We want to talk about issues -socio/economic and talk about trust, integrity, and demand that politicians obey the laws of this country.

CBC just had a political "panel" on the election consisting of Rob Russo, Bureau Chief Ottawa Canadian Press and Tasha Kheiriddin, columnist National Post.

They proceeded to talk about how "coalition" is the issue of the campaign and that the Liberals need to come up with one or two key messages like that to make a difference.

Who made "coalition" the issue of the campaign? They downplayed the role of social media and then went on to talk about the "coalition".

Finally Terry Milewski, senior correspondent Ottawa CBC has taken a stand and stood up to be counted. He has taken Harper to account on the created "coalition" issue and he pointed out that Harper is calling a "coalition" "illegitimate" now when Milewski added in "fact" Harper said the opposite during the Martin minority. He has called Harper out on this major inconsistency - which I would call a lie as he has done with Newfoundland and Labrador, income trusts, elected senates, and on being lawful.

In comparison the last question from a reporter - taken by Harper at a campaign event in Ontario was:

"what are you going to do to get the Maple Leafs back in the playoffs?" What a joke!