Not just for Arizona anymore

Look out!

Santa has a gun!

Reports say that neighbourhood Santas were not amused.

#ethicalbananaphone

It must be hard to be Don Cherry these days.

It's not just that Cherry became the foil to the Conservative mob's campaign to find out how much Peter Mansbridge makes.

Or that Cherry felt obliged to decline an honourary degree from Royal Military College following one open letter from one RMC professor.

Or that 800,000 Canadians leave the room when Cherry comes on the screen.

Now, Cherry is facing his gravest threat.

Raffi is facing off against Cherry's bombast. 

And he's winning

Hooray for Raffi.

Next stop, tiger blood

Today we learned that the stable Harper majority government has launched yet another round of ads trumpeting the Conservative Party's unfulfilled commitment to repeal the life saving long gun registry.

But why now, right before Christmas?

They have a majority in the House of Commons.  They could have passed their radical Bill before leaving on a six-week vacation if they had actually wanted to.

They have a majority in the Senate.  It will pass there too.

So why is the Conservative Party dumping still more tax payer subsidized money on what should be a sure thing?

In the court of public opinion, they're losing.  The more Canadians hear about the Harper government's radical bill, the less they like it.

And the media buy will reveal exactly where and why the Conservative Party thinks they're losing.

Of course, the Conservative Party will call it winning.

In defence of Peter MacKay (sort of)

See Peter.

See Peter become a liability.

Run Peter.

You can run, Peter.

You can not hide.

We see that the right wing friends of the Prime Minister have launched their war on Peter MacKay. It must be a pleasant distraction from their rearguard action against the so-called War on Christmas.

We'd like to say that we feel sorry for Peter MacKay.

But we don't.  In our books, it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

However, no matter how much fun it is, it's unfair to criticize MacKay for his selection of hotels at a security conference.

We don't know what rooms were available when it became clear that a Minister in a minority government could travel to any meeting.

We don't object to a Minister staying in the hotel where his meetings are being held.

And we don't object to a Minister staying in a hotel where his hosts presumably had taken efforts to ensure that their high level guests were secure.  No matter how hard it may be for thinking Canadians to believe, Peter MacKay is a NATO Defence Minister.  That makes him a potential valuable, if symbolic, target for terrorists or crazies.

HAVEN'T GONE TOTALLY SOFT

But the big room in Istanbul seems excessive. 

As for Istanbul, Mr. MacKay's staff explained the difference in the cost of the minister's room and his aides' rooms by pointing out he needs a bigger space to host official visitors.

Our Defence Minister meets people in his bedroom?

Perhaps we should clarify our confusion.

Our Defence Minister meets official visitors in his room?

Does he wear fuzzy bunny slippers to the meetings?

Of course, the non-smart ass question to MacKay's staff would be to name one visitor that MacKay met in his big entitlement Istanbul room.

When is OK to compare Canadian police to the SS?

In April 2011, a handpicked member of the Harper government's radical anti-gun control advisory committee compared Canadian cops to Hitler's notorious SS.

In the midst of an election campaign, such comments had the potential to be explosive and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews' former Director of Parliamentary Affairs lept bravely into the fray:

"Due to the nature of the comments attributed to this individual, the minister . . . has directed a review of both the alleged statements and the individual's status on the firearms advisory committee," said Andrea Kent.

Following up

Why is this individual still advising the Harper government?

Were the comments reviewed as promised or was the review swept under the table?

Or was it decided that the comparison was acceptable?

Someone should ask Vic Toews.

In which Rob Anders cedes the title of Alberta's most embarrassing MP

A couple weeks ago, many on the non-Conservative side of of the #cdnpoli blogosphere were making fun of veteran Tory MP Rob Anders falling asleep in Parliament.

At the time, we were content to let sleeping dogs lie. We firmly believe that a sleeping Rob Anders is far less embarrassing than a speaking one.

And we would have just left Anders alone had a couple of is colleagues not made a play for Anders' longstanding title of Alberta's most embarrassing MP.

Competitor 1 was charged criminally for failing to provide a breath sample during an impaired driving check. Way to take responsibility for your actions, Competitor 1.

Competitor 2 was caught pretending to shoot MPs during the gun registry repeal vote. As an added bonus, Conservative Whip and failed former cabinet minister Gordon O'Connor accused whoever revealed Competitor 2's gestures of acting maliciously.

We think they should get a medal. Playing gunslinger in Parliament is, at best, childish.

Playing gunslinger during a vote on a polarizing gun bill demonstrates a clear lack of what military strategists call situational awareness.

Or, as Bugs Bunny might argue, "What a maroon!"

Congratulations Rob Anders.

You're number three.