Sunday Blogwhoring: Armistice Anxiety

by matttbastard

Desperately need a personal assistant to keep up with my rapidly expanding agenda. Rest assured I’d never be so intemperate an employer as the late Linda Stein, former manager of the Ramones, who was recently bludgeoned to death by her PA (Natavia don’t play that Naomi Campbell diva bullshit, y0!) Obviously, this is all wishful speculation on my part; before hiring anyone to manage my affairs I’d first need to secure an income stable enough to support myself financially, let alone an employee.

Love don’t pay the bills, y0–unless you own the publishing rights to Arthur Lee’s back catalogue.

(Seven and seven is Melissa McEwan.)

April Reign: An Open Letter to Dalton McGuinty

Birth Pangs: Conscience

The Silence of Our Friends: Drowning Maestro and Virgins, Whores, and the Sliding Scale of Our Humanity

Leftist Looney Lunchbox: How “protecting our women” hurts women

Women of Color Blog: Some Questions

mnemosyne: just fuckin’ stop it, ok

Rachel’s Tavern: I’ve Read More Sexist Comments From Black Men This Week Than I Have Read In the Past Year

Slant Truth: Michael Baisden Attacks Color of Change

Tristan’s Corner of the Web: Let’s get down to business

Andrew Padula @ All About Race: The Topsoil: Dog the Bounty Hunter

Jon Swift: Quit Doggin’ Dog the Bounty Hunter (FTW!)

skdadl @ POGGE: Welcome to our inexpensive and easily accessible soapbox

Too Sense: Norman Mailer Dies

Liberal Catnip: Sunday Food for Thought: Remembrance Day

willy be frantic @ A Creative Revolution: The 11th hour of the 11th day ….

Shakesville: The next time…

Questioning Transphobia: ENDA Discussion

nexy’s cocoon: more equal

TransAdvocate: What Next?

Obsidian Wings: ENDA Redux (With Free Gift!) and Oh, And One More Thing…

unrepentant old hippie: “It’s sickening.”

Far and Wide: Have Your Say (h/t 900ft Jesus)

Politics ‘n’ Poetry: Gender Equality : Canada slips from 14th to 18th place

Creekside: British Columbia : Nigeria North?

fetch me my axe: something tells me i shoulda stood in bed

Impolitical: For the independent party’s Schreiber review

Racialicious: Jezebel: Asian women are hot, smart, thin and tell you your skin is bad

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Of ‘Political Stunts’ And Squeezing Lemons

by mattbastard

I’m certainly no fan of Jack Layton, but methinks that Steve V. is being too hasty by assuming that the Canadian Press included a full and accurate quote of the NDP leader’s comments re: Liberal Defence Critic Denis Coderre’s unofficial trip to Afghanistan. [Update 10.07 10pm EDT: Jack Layton was quoted accurately. Layton was even asked if he thought the refusal was out of fear that Coderre would ‘upstage’  Bernier and Oda, but deferred from answering, instead claiming he didn’t wish to speculate – mb] That said, I agree with (*gasp*) Don Martin (phew, the universe didn’t implode*exhales*):

It should…be noted Mr. Coderre is among the greatest of all parliamentary publicity hogs, a man who would walk through Taliban headquarters wrapped in an American flag if there was a media scrum on the other side.

But he does serve as official Opposition defence critic and is a member of the Privy Council. As such, Mr. Coderre has a lot to learn about Canada’s most important military mission in 50 years which, in my view, legitimizes a first-hand look at a mission his party hopes to disband in just 16 months.

[…]

It seems only fair that Mr. Bernier [have found] a seat for his official critic on the government plane. The Afghanistan deployment is clearly the defence decision of the decade, if not the last 50 years, and non-partisan eyewitness input can be useful.

Regardless, I think we can all agree that this has to unequivocally rank as one of the most asinine spin-doctoring jobs by a Conservative this year:

According to the Canadian Press, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda went before skeptical Afghan journalists and said roadside and suicide bombings indicate that the insurgents have made a shift in tactics. She said that shows the success of the NATO mission.

Oda said that she spoke with senior Afghan officials and they “identified that the difference in the challenge in Kandahar today can be seen as, to a certain extent, success.’‘

Oda said that such that although suicide bombings and roadside bombings were common in southern parts of the country, their shift to the capital shows that insurgents have become desperate.

Yes, it’s quite evident how a similar “desperate” tactical shift several years back has improved the security situation in Iraq. Takes a lot of chutzpah to try and portray the import of asymmetrical guerrilla tactics as a positive development (mmm, tasty lemonade!)

[mb: edited to add Martin quote, which, for whatever reason, disappeared during the initial proofreading stage. Oops.]

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