No Prorogue! - What's this about?

No Prorogue!
(visit the site for more)

What’s this about?

“When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid dissent is frankly when it’s rapidly losing its moral authority to govern.”
Stephen Harper, Canadian Press, April 18, 2005

On December 30th Stephen Harper announced that he will be Proroguing Parliament and suspending democracy until March 3. This is the second time he has done this in under two years.

Proroguing means:

1. All 37 bills being debated in Parliament are thrown in the trash. Discussion on bills starts from scratch in March, wasting months of hard work by all parties. These bills included new crime legislation, limits on credit card insurance rates, etc.
2. Committees investigating accusations of torture of Afghan detainees stop working
3. Discussions and decisions about the pension crisis affecting Canada’s seniors stops
4. Questions about Canada’s inaction at the Copenhagen climate-change summit are silenced. Opportunities to move forward with Canada’s plan for sustainable development are stalled for over a month.
5. Your MPs cannot raise your concerns in Ottawa

Conservative spin losing its thread

Liberal Arts and Minds: Spin, Losing it's Thread
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There is the need to consult over the economy, but Flaherty put that to rest by saying he'd consult with or without prorogation. Then there is the whole notion that the government has to set a new agenda, 'recalibrate', except they go on to say that it will be business as usual and the plan is simply to implement the second half of the EAP.

There is not one reasonable explanation that has been put on the table and they are now floundering and sound more ridiculous than usual.
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Conservative use of prorogue is anything BUT routine

The rebuttal to Conservatives who protest that proroguing of Parliament is ‘routine’ « Scott's DiaTribes < read the full post.
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Conservative apologists for this have been saying, as has become their habit: What’s the big deal? Jean Chretien prorogued a few times too. It’s routine. Except it’s not routine in a minority Parliament. It’s not routine when you have dozens of bills on the table and work left undone. And it’s not routine to do it two years in a row, and in both cases when you’re under intense political pressure from the opposition.
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Parliament should matter

Parliament should matter
Does Parliament matter? The question might once have been unthinkable; today, however, it's well worth asking.
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Harper outsmarts himself

Harper outsmarts himself - Winnipeg Free Press

Shutting down Parliament lights a fire under apathetic Canadians...

Britain covered in snow

BBC News - Frozen Britain seen from above

Time to fire his ass if can't figure it out by now

Hmm, Harper claims he needs almost 3 months to figure out how to govern. « Scott's DiaTribes

Conservative TV just torpedoed Harper

Far and Wide: "A Very Serious Issue"
For CTV (Conservative TeleVision, aka Canada's Tory Voice) to say this is a serious issue, I'd say Harper is in big trouble with his hard-core base of sycophants.

A video poking fun at Harper's current situation.

YouTube - Stephen Harper's Prorogation Downfall

NDP stance on the prorogation of parliament issue

Statement by New Democrat Deputy Leader and House Leader Libby Davies | NDP
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While Stephen Harper is blocking elected Members of Parliament from working in the House of Commons, he is in the process of appointing more and more unelected Senators, something he promised he would never do.

All this to run away from accountability and to further cover up the Afghan detainee torture scandal.

It is unacceptable. New Democrats will continue to work hard, and this is why our MPs will attend, as planned, the NDP Caucus retreat scheduled the week before the return of Parliament in Wakefield, Quebec.

The meeting will go ahead, because, more than ever, New Democrats are committed to keeping the Conservative government accountable. We may need to be creative. But we will be relentless.

Details on the recent polls about the prorogation

Far and Wide: Nobody Should Care About The "Unaware"

No Prorogue! site

No Prorogue!

The Economist steps in with words about the prorogation of parliament

Canada without Parliament: Halted in mid-debate | The Economist

Conservative MPs begin to show the true colours of the party

An apparent disadvantage of proroguing has emerged for Harper – his MPs are loose cannons « Scott's DiaTribes

Mr. Schellenberger admitted he may try to take two or three weeks off during the Winter Olympic Games and may try to get to Vancouver if he can find accommodation. The Olympics in Canada were another good reason to prorogue Parliament, he added. ”If we are sitting, how do MPs get to those events,” he said of the Olympic games. “It makes sense that we are not sitting.”
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Harper's plan was to prorogue while the other leaders were away on holidays

Yappa Ding Ding: More on the Democratic Crisis
For those who are complaining that Ignatieff and Layton are on holiday... did it occur to you that Harper timed this to embarrass them by choosing a time when it would be difficult for them to get back to Canada quickly? Just have a little patience. We need leadership from Ignatieff and Layton - not just one but BOTH - and it needs to be good. But quality is more important than fast in this case. We can wait a few more days or weeks.
read on ...

Harper and his supporters in the MSM

Montreal Simon: Stephen Harper and his Media Stooges
He thought he could get away with it. He said it was just routine. He said Canadians didn't care about torture. He said he needed to recalibrate.

Even though Canadians knew it was just a paid vacation.

He counted on the Con media to shrug it's shoulders, praise him for being so clever.

And smother the Facebook rebellion with cynicism.

Or this crock of stinking shite. From another old Con.

As if young Canadians were too stupid to care about saving democracy and their country.

So what are these MSM Con stooges saying now? About this and this.

Let me suggest something along these lines might be appropriate:

Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo. We live in a dank little village called Ottawa. We walk around with our heads up our asses. We polish Great Ugly Leader's bum with our noses. We think cynical is cool. So how could we possibly know how irrelevant we have become?
Read on ...

Conservative Party abusing our tax dollars again

Section 15: Meanwhile, the Conservative Party continues to piggyback on our tax dollars
Relating to their web site and a government of Canada web site ...

Even Conservatives are pissed off

Bowie's Blog: 94% say prorogation bad, CTV poll finds

Toronto sex assault suspects

Photos released of sex assault suspects - thestar.com

Anyone who may recognize the men from these photos is asked to contact police at 416-808-7474 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

A great list of links about the issue at hand - Harper proroguing parliament again

Re Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament - Links

Rick Mercer's response to the latest prorogue of parliament in Canada

RickMercer < read me here.

The Expendables - new action movie

Sylvester Stallone breaks his neck filming action pic | The Daily Telegraph
Check out the list of stars fighting in this movie:
It features some of the biggest names of the genre - including Arnold Schwarzenegger, 62, Bruce Willis, 54, Dolph Lundgren, 52, Mickey Rourke, 57,  Jet Li, 46, and Jason Statham, 37.

The Facebook group to join if you are pissed about Harper closing parliament (again)

Facebook | Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament

Plan for the opposition parties when parliament resumes

Opposition Plan "B" < read me in full.

Regarding restructuring the Afghan issue committee so the Conservatives can't stop it from moving forward.

Under normal circumstances, it would be inappropriate for the opposition parties to do this. The House of Commons has always rested on principles of comity and traditions of respect in order to avoid having one political party run roughshod over another. However, I believe that these are exceptional circumstances. At common law, there is a famous maxim which states that "one who seeks equity must do equity." In light of the fact that the Prime Minsiter has suspended our democratically-elected legislature in mid-session two years in a row; in light of the government's outright defiance of a binding order of the House of Commons to release certain documents pertaining to the Afghan detainee torture scandal; in light of the Conservatives' boycott of a Parliamentary committee; and in light of Mr. Harper's contempt for the House of Commons and, by extension, the Canadian citizens it represents; in light of all of this, Mr. Harper and his government deserve no respect from the opposition and are certainly disentitled to benefits of Parliamentary comity.

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More On Stephen Harper's Shutting Down Democracy in Canada

Accidental Deliberations: The reviews just keep on coming

all Canadians must care about a minority government that undermines the fundamental democratic institutions of this country while also manipulating quasi-judicial tribunals and intimidating the public service from speaking truth to power. This abuse of executive power is tilting toward totalitarian government and away from the foundations of democracy and the rule of law on which this country was founded.

Read the link for the full story.

I Prorogue because ...

from: Impolitical: I Prorogue because

Vaccines to fight cancers in the works

Leukaemia vaccine being developed - Telegraph

British researchers have developed a treatment that can be used to stop the disease returning after chemotherapy or bone marrow transplant.

Eventually it is hoped the drug, which activates the body's own immune system against the leukaemia, could be used to treat other types of cancers.

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The Milky Way tastes like raspberries!

Old Trees Lost, Galaxy's Flavor Found | Popular Science

Interstellar Fluff has a strong magnetic field

Voyager Unveils the Mystery of the Interstellar Fluff from Hell - The Fluff - Gizmodo

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Using data from Voyager, we have discovered a strong magnetic field just outside the solar system. This magnetic field holds the interstellar cloud together—"The Fluff"—and solves the long-standing puzzle of how it can exist at all.

The Fluff is much more strongly magnetized than anyone had previously suspected. This magnetic field can provide the extra pressure required to resist destruction.

The Voyagers are not actually inside the Local Fluff. But they are getting close and can sense what the cloud is like as they approach it.

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Canadian Supreme Court libel ruling in favour of journalists

Supreme Court backs press in major libel ruling - thestar.com
In a landmark ruling on freedom of expression, the Supreme Court of Canada has created a new legal defence to libel lawsuits that would shield journalists who fairly and responsibly report stories of public interest.

The new defence, dubbed "responsible communication" by the country's top court, gives greater protection to broadcasters, writers and bloggers who diligently try to verify the accuracy of information in their reports, even if every statement cannot later be proven to be true.

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