Has the Ottawa Press Gallery Joined Big Bird's Red Army?

The late Dalton Camp, former president of the now defunct federal Progressive Conservative Party, tells a story in his book: Whose Country is This Anyway, of a group of young conservatives who had disrupted a speech by Jean Charest.

Charest at the time, was leader of the federal PCs.

The loudest among them, accused him of being a Communist. He was, this bombastic young man claimed: "Saying Communist things, expressing Communist sentiments and generally sounding like a Pinko". (p. 27)

What brought on this accusation, was Charest's concern for the homeless and unemployed. That's all it took. "Pinko" notions for sure.

Camp only mentions that the man was 25 and an officer with the Conservative Youth. I've often wondered if it was John Baird, because he fit the description, being just that age when the event took place. Baird had already been arrested in Kingston for disrupting a campaign stop by former Liberal premier of Ontario, David Peterson.

Baird went on to win a seat under Mike Harris, helping to make sure that no "Pinko" ideas prevailed. In fact, the Harris government created the most homeless people in the history of the province, and John Baird gutted social services with the help of Enron's accounting firm.

But I digress.

Brian Lilley of Fox News North is seeing "red" these days, literally. In an attempt to create a bit of "controlled controversy", he accused members of the Ottawa Press Gallery of having a "soft spot" for communists.

It began with his "outing" of Nycole Turmel, the interim NDP leader, as not only being a member of the Bloc, but also of the Quebec Solidaire, a Communist party, according to Lilley, made up of Marxists, Trotskyites and "radical feminists".

He's got the lingo down anyway.

Quebec Solidaire is a Quebec separatist party, but they are hardly communists. They are social democrats concerned with the environment, women's issues and globalization.

Lilley was hoping to generate rage from the reporters on Parliament Hill, but instead only invoked laughter. He made a complete ass of himself.



And remember, Lilley refers to the Toronto Star, as the 'Red Star'.

Just another right-wing voice for Rupert Murdoch's media empire. Lilley's sister station, Fox News, is accusing Newsweek and other "Pinkos" in the media, of hating Michelle Bachmann.

There is nothing the left fears more than a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, pro-gun woman. Throw in the fact that she’s intelligent and attractive, and sorry excuses for men, like Bill Maher, will be hurling vulgarities at her in no time.

The problem with Michelle Bachmann, is that she gives women a bad name. She wants to be the President of the United States, but is ignorant of its constitution and has publicly stated that her husband "commanded her" to become a tax lawyer.

What will he "command her" to do if she heads up the most powerful country in the world? I shudder to think.

But this kind of nonsense resonates with Fox viewers on both sides of the border.

However, I think I saw Susan Delacourt Talking to Mr. Snuffleupagus

I posted before on U.S. Conservative personality Ben Shapiro, and his new book: Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV

In it he claims that Sesame Street promotes multi-culturalism, collectivism (sharing) and other "pinko" notions.

I always knew there was something more to Big Bird's relationship with his no eared furry friend. I mean what kind of name is Aloysius Snuffleupagus? A commie for sure.

I'll bet he lost those ears during an interrogation.

However, we can't just dismiss Shapiro as another right-wing nut. I mean he is, but he's a well financed right-wing nut.

His book was published by Broadside Books, which is owned by News Corporation, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Murdoch of course, is the man behind Fox News, and it was he who helped Stephen Harper to launch Fox News North.

Broadside Books is the official publisher to the Tea Party.

Is This a Laughing Matter?

Brian Lilley closes his segment by saying that his accusations of Communist leanings had hit a nerve with the Ottawa media, who were "touchy" on the subject. He didn't hit a nerve, so much as a funny bone, but we do have to take this "commie" stuff seriously, because there are people out there who believe it.

Remember, Anders Breivik, though he railed against Islam, went after politicians and affiliates of the Labour Party in Norway. Killing children before they grew up to be "lefties".

He also saw a "conspiracy among the media and political elite" to silence his views.

The women's movement hit a snag in the early 1900s, when their leaders were accused of being engaged in Communism. This made it difficult for them to find work or be published.

A list of Americans suspected of Communism, include: Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, New Deal Liberals, Democrats, Critics of McCarthy and McCarthyism, American Civil Liberties Union and Civil Libertarians, Rock and Roll musicians, Gay activists and gays and lesbians, Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, Librarians and Library patrons, Union leaders, Film stars and Hollywood writers, University Professors and public school teachers, scientists, some Artists and Painters, Feminists and leaders of the women's movement, Peace Groups, The Girl Scouts, American Writers and Playwrights, etc., etc.

And those targeted by Joseph McCarthy were not laughing.

I'd like to think that Canadians are smarter than this, but then I thought we were too smart to elect Reformer Harper, and we will have had at least a decade of the neocon before he will be voted out (I hope).

(Do you think the neoconservatives are "breeding like rabbits"?)

So is Brian Lilley really the next Joe McCarthy? Hardly.

I see him as more of a Charlie McCarthy. A funny little puppet who makes us laugh.

But if you see Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus lurking about, be on your guard. Who knows what they're cooking up.

Rupert Murdoch Lied? It Can't be True!

During his testimony to the British Parliament, Rupert Murdoch claimed not to know about the phone hacking.

However, two former executives with News Corp disputed the claim, saying that Murdoch was warned several times that phone hacking at one of the company’s tabloid newspapers was more widespread.

He didn't get the memo. Sound familiar?

Could the Right-Wing Threat Get Any Worse?

High profile Scotland Yard officers have been forced to resign over the Rupert Murdoch scandal and the whistle blower is dead.

An investigation is underway in Canada involving Fox News North/Sun Media and how THEY obtained a police file on Jack Layton and the massage parlour.

Toronto has a redneck mayor, Rob Ford. Harper has a majority and Mike Harris lapdog Tim Hudak is poised to become the premier of Ontario in October.

But this may not be the worst of it.

Michelle Bachmann could become the next president of the United States, serving simultaneously with Canada's weapons of mass destruction.

Heaven help us!

Bachmann's husband, who is handling her campaign, was caught on tape sounding like he was once a Reform Party member, calling homosexuals "barbarians", sharing the views of most of Harper's caucus and staff.



He claimed the tape was doctored, but apparently it wasn't. I could have told him the "tape was doctored" line wouldn't work. Eventually you just sound like a liar on top of everything else.

And remember all the uproar over Obama's Reverend Wright? Bachmann has a Reverend Wrong, who called the Pope the Antichrist.

It's like the world has gone mad.

This is why we need a separation of Church of state, a legitimate media, and non-morons running governments.

It's like a really bad episode of The three Stooges, where Moe is beating the crap out of all of us.

Nyuk, nyuk.

Right-Wing Media Moguls and the Buying of Politicians

In the unfolding scandal of Rupert Murdoch and his media empire, aside from phone hacking and the buying off of cops, there is another question emerging.

How did these media moguls gain so much political power?

The BBC asks: Who is more powerful - Murdoch or Parliament?

If ever there were a symbol of the uneasy balance of power between national governments and large multinationals companies, it is the spectacle of the British Parliament being poised to vote overwhelmingly (it seems) for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp to abandon its bid for British Sky Broadcasting - but being powerless to force him to abandon that takeover.

If Parliament is sovereign, there is something slightly odd about the idea that the vote can be passed and that Mr Murdoch can choose to ignore it.

Maybe Mr Murdoch will eventually abide by the revealed will of the elected representatives of the British government. But as of last night, Mr Murdoch appeared unimpressed that the prime minister and the deputy prime minister decided to throw their weight behind the leader of the opposition's motion calling on him to drop the takeover.

British prime minister David Cameron really has no choice but to at least give the appearance of standing up to Murdoch, but he would not have been as successful had it not been for this man's support.

The relationship between politicians and the press has always been a topic for debate, but simply supporting a candidate or party, through spin, has transcended to something far more alarming.

They are now being groomed by the media and even purchased.

Margaret Thatcher had a very close relationship with Murdoch editor Larry Lamb. He would even visit her home, giving her communication advice.

Says Murdoch biographer William Shawcross:

Thatcher was persuaded by advisers that tabloids like the Sun, the Mirror and the Daily Mail were far more important than the more serious papers in influencing voters. The Mirror would always be pro-Labour, but she was advised to cultivate the editors of both the Sun and the Mail.

... Mrs. Thatcher came to Bouverie Street. Lamb said she "accepted a glass of whisky, kicked off her shoes and engaged us all in spirited debate for several hours. We were all impressed, not least by the fact that she listened." Lamb also went to see her at her house "to talk about the kind of campaign she planned, who she felt might emerge as the star performers, and which members of her team we should stick close to.

... On Election Day, May 3, 1979, the Sun's massive editorial., covering the entire front page and continuing inside, was headlined "VOTE TORY THIS TIME. IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THE ROT." ... The editorial asserted that the Sun as a radical paper was urging a vote for the Conservatives.

Murdoch's papers appealed to what Shawcross called, "the lower-income group", and their massaging of the campaign was effective.

The biggest swing to the Conservatives was among the lower-income group, known to market researchers as Us, which included many Sun readers. A victorious Thatcher wrote Lamb what he called an "affectionate" letter and thanked him for his help.

It's rather ironic given that Thatcher's policies hurt the low-income group the most, but it didn't matter. Lamb was able to paint her as a champion of the lower class. (Source: Rupert: Ringmaster of the Information Circus, Shawcross, 1992, P. 153-155)

And he was later rewarded with a knighthood.

In Canada, Conrad Black was ringmaster of the media circus, before he went to prison for fraud.

Not only did he shift Canada's media to the right, but he also provided "communication" and financial backing to the neoconservative movement.

As a member of both the National Citizens Coalition (who ran an ABC: Anyone But [Joe] Clark campaign. (Loyal to the Core, Gerry Nicholls, 2009)) and the Fraser Institute, he helped to make sure that they stayed on track. He even allowed an employee, Peter White, to work with Brian Mulroney, to help capture the support of the Conservative youth movement.

Disillusioned with Mulroney, who he deemed not to be right wing enough, he switched his support to Reform, donating $20,000.00 to their 1993 campaign. According to the infamous James Keegstra, Preston Manning was often seen riding around in limos with Black, making him suspicious of the true intentions of the party.

Seeing perhaps more promise in Stockwell Day, as someone who could be manipulated, Black then went to work to create a charismatic leader. According to Trevor Harrison, in his book, Requiem for a Lightweight: Stockwell Day and Image Politics, Black hosted $1000 a plate dinners and allowed Ezra Levant to hold party fundraisers in his home.

Levant was a boyhood friend of Day's son Logan.

With a right-wing media firmly in place in Canada, thanks to Conrad Black, Rupert Murdoch trumped him after a luncheon with Stephen Harper, giving us the vile Fox News North.

So how did the media become so powerful, that they can defy governments, and yet so powerless, that journalists are not allowed to write the truth?

Wow! Isn't neoconservatism grand?

Help Put an End to Rupert Murdoch's Criminal Empire

The ongoing scandal in the UK involving media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is making waves everywhere.

His stock prices are on the decline and citizens are beginning to mobilize against him.

AVAAZ has launched a petition to End Murdoch's Criminal Empire

Murdoch's Fox News North in Canada reveals the depths they will go to, in their bid to turn people off, while rallying hate groups. The scandals in UK, show the depths they will go to, to get a story.

Can we topple an empire?

Conrad Black destroyed Canadian media, by shifting it to the right. He ended up in prison, not for crimes against journalism, but for fraud.

Al Capone got away with his crimes, but was sent to prison for tax evasion. Whatever it takes to put an end to this.

This week, CTV's Quebec City Bureau Chief, Kai Nagata, resigned over the horrible state of the Canadian media.

Coverage of Will and Kate's visit stumped legitimate news, but there was so much more.

Stephen Harper is literally getting away with murder. Says Nagata:

Right now, there's a war going on against science in Canada. In order to satisfy a small but powerful political base, the PMO is engaged in a not-so-clandestine operation to dismantle and silence the many credible opponents to the Harper doctrine. Why kill the census? Literally in order to make decisions in the dark, without the relevant data. Hence the prisons. Why de-fund scientific research? Because whole branches of the natural sciences are premised on things like evolution, a theory the minister responsible made it clear he doesn't understand -- and likely doesn't believe in. Why settle for weak platitudes on climate change? Because despite global scientific consensus, elements of the Conservative base don't believe human activity could warm the planet. Centuries of rational thought and academic tradition, dating back to the Renaissance, is being thrown out the window in favour of an ideology that doesn't reflect reality.

When are we going to wake up?

Last night on my local television news (CKWS), they briefly discussed Harper's new border security deal with the U.S., which in part demands that U.S. Homeland Security be notified every time a Canadian citizen takes a flight to third world country, including Mexico, if that citizen flies over the United States.

This was news months ago, part of a broader shared "security", where Canada will relinquish its sovereignty.

CKWS provided little background. In fact they provide little of anything, when it comes to national coverage.

It's so frustrating that all of our news is now contrived, or spun to the point of not being considered news at all.

Time to take back our media from criminals like Murdoch and Black. We deserve and NEED better.

Rupert Murdoch Will Not Go Out in a Blaze of Glory

Rupert Murdoch, the man who has done so much to poison politics, is now trying to defend his "honour", after a scandal with one of his tabloids.

News of the World routinely hacked phone lines and even bribed cops to allow them to track 9/11 calls. And it was not the first time that the publication was in trouble.

Murdoch, 80, has been widely criticized for refusing to fire [Rebekah] Brooks who was editor of News of the World in 2002 when its reporters deleted phone messages left for a missing murdered schoolgirl, leading her family to believe she was still alive.

Just how low will they go?

We're quickly learning that in Canada, where Fox News North vilifies Muslims and refers to the Caledonia land claim protests as a struggle between "Indians and white people".

The scandal is also threatening the government of David Cameron, who was promised a daily television spot if Murdoch was able to take over British Sky Broadcasting, 'the biggest deal of his storied career'.

When it was discovered that the Harper government had spent almost a quarter million dollars to advertise their 'Canada Action Plan', I spent a few days researching, emailing and calling others who had initiated stimulus programs, and not one saw the need to bilk taxpayers for self-promotion ads. Some were quite surprised that Harper was being allowed to get away with it.

But in Britain, using tax dollars in such a manner is actually illegal, so Cameron took a lot of flak for his deal with the aging media mogul.

And to better understand the modus operandi, of Murdoch, let's compare:

Stephen Harper had lunch with him and his team, after which Harper's communications director, Kory Teneycke, was named to head up the project, now dubbed Fox News North (Sun TV).

David Cameron arranged a meal with Murdoch and his press spokesman, Andy Coulson, was plucked from News of the World. We'll call it 'The Eat, Bleat and Cheat club'.

Teneycke was fired for his involvement in the hacking of AVAAZ (now back). Coulson was arrested for his role in the hacking scandal.

This appears to be an issue that is not going away anytime soon, and many speculate that it could affect the Murdoch empire.

Poor Stephen Harper. If he loses his Fox News, where will he spread his poison?

When Hatred Goes Mainstream

Jolly Berlin crowds in the brightly-lit Kurfürstendamm nightlife district had more fun last week than these beery, sausage-stuffed revelers have had in months. Well-dressed German women and their swank, duel-scarred escorts vied with shopgirls and mechanics in spurring on with laughter, cheers and songs the most savage Jew hunt since those which immediately followed Adolf Hitler's elevation to power ...

The Jew hunters; tall, blond, mighty-muscled Nazi youths in civilian clothes, appeared suddenly on the Kurfürstendamm but seemed at first not to know quite what to do. Soon group leaders dashed up in snorting Mercédès and the Jew hunt was on, a peculiar feature being that the sidewalk crowds joined in a hunting chant taught them by the hunters. This was roared out one line at a time by the group leaders, all present then repeating in a fervent chant: Perish Jew! Get the Hell out! Blood-running noses! The best Jew is a dead Jew! Perish Jew! Suiting action to words, the Jew hunters plunged into night clubs, theatres, and cafés, dragged out every customer who looked like a Jew, beat him bloody on tho sidewalk, and slugged any women who seemed to have been with Jews irrespective of whether they were Jewesses or not.

The above is from a Time magazine article published July 29, 1935, under the heading 'Jew Hunt'.

We are all well aware of that horrible time in history, but what might be surprising is that while the Nazi youth appeared to be doing the beating, "well-dressed German women" spurred them on with "laughter, cheers and songs" and that "the sidewalk crowds joined in a hunting chant".

Ordinary Germany citizens desensitized to hatred.

The poster above is from the Young Americans Foundation, a conservative youth movement that has become increasingly volatile, especially toward non-white immigration and of course Muslims.

I've written of them before, under their other banner 'Young Americans for Freedom', both simply referred to as YAF. They have links to Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute, on which Preston Manning fashioned his Manning's Centre with a single corporate donation of ten million dollars.

Both Karl Rove and Harper MP Rob Anders graduated from Blackwell's school and Rove was once a member of YAF. Enough said.

In the poster above the group tells students how to identify a Muslim with things like "lasers in their eyes, venom from mouth and a peg-leg for smuggling children and heroine".

This is not unlike a children's book, The Poisonous Mushroom, written by Nazi Julius Streicher.

In the book, Streicher teaches youth how to identify a Jew:

- One can tell a Jew by his nose. The Jewish nose is bent at the tip.
- ...the lips are another distinguishing feature; they are usually puffed up
- From the eyes one can see that the Jew is: A false, deceitful person

So how are the teachings of YAF and Streicher any different?

Both promote xenophobia. Xenophobia that can lead people to accept horrifying things.

Fox News North and the English Defense League

So what does all of this have to do with us?

In the following piece from Sun TV, the station that came about after Stephen Harper's taxpayer funded lunch with Rupert Murdoch, Brian Lilley presents an interesting commentary.

He says that he had no interest in the Royal wedding until he learned that there was a group of Muslim protesters planning to disrupt the event.



Says Lilley: "Hopefully, maybe some soccer lads would take them out if they were to go ahead - rip them limb from limb..." Then he mockingly reminds his viewers that England is a Christian nation.

The video earned 42 'likes' and only 8 'dislikes', with one comment that someone should report Lilley to the CRTC. Fat lot of good that would do. Harper has appointed 11 of the 14 members, so I imagine that Lilley and his cohorts will be allowed to say pretty much anything.

However, this story is even more disturbing.

First off, the Muslim group was not the only one planning to protest that day. There were anti-capitalist groups, environmentalists, anti-poverty activists. But the only ones singled out were the Muslims.

The police themselves said that the biggest threat came not from any of the groups but from 'fixated' individuals.

While terrorist groups, anarchists and other political extremists are the most obvious potential security threats to the royal wedding, the most potent danger comes from obsessive lone operators, say experts.

These 'fixated' individuals are such a threat that in a small office not far from Buckingham Palace in central London a team of psychiatrists, psychologists and police officers are busy trying to counter that threat. The team is part of the Fixated Threat Assessment Center (FTAC), a unit established in 2006 with the responsibility of identifying and the power to indefinitely detain individuals who harass, stalk or threaten the royal family and others in public life.

However, if radical groups still concern Lilley and his faithfuls, I would be more concerned with the English Defense League, who promised to be on hand to take care of the Muslims.

According to the UK Guardian:

The English Defence League uncovered: Formed less than a year ago, the English Defence League has become the most significant far-right street movement since the National Front. The Guardian spent four months undercover with the movement, and found them growing in strength and planning to target some of the UK's biggest Muslim communities.

As warned the video contains coarse language, but it's the message that I find more disturbing than the profanity.

If they break through "they will murder them all."

As Canadians we should also take note that these guys use Geert Wilders as a role model. The same Geert Wilders who was given permission by the Harper government to speak at this year's Tulip Festival in Ottawa.

The Tulip Festival for heaven sake. Why were Canadians not outraged? Are we also now becoming desensitized to hatred?

In Lawrence Martin's book Harperland, he speaks of our immigration department specifically stating "NO MUSLIMS" in their recruitment ads. Why do we accept that?

The G-20 in Toronto is now best known for the largest number of domestic human rights violations in Canadian history, where citizens were beaten, strip searched, and held in cages. Where was our outrage?

Instead we shrugged and said "well, you shouldn't have been there".

Social activist Joe Levitt once stated that he had "lost confidence in the common man". And Gerald Caplan, NDP insider and columnist, laments that we are "going backwards into a world that we thought would never exist again." (p.12)

Why are we standing on the sidewalk cheering on the attack of everything that Canada once stood for? We might as well put on the jackboots and join in if we are going to do nothing.

What if Geert Wilders had spoke out against Jews at the Tulip Festival? Christians? The disabled? Would we have reacted differently?

This government is not only condoning hatred, but encouraging it.

When will we say "enough!"?

A Preview of Fox News North Proving That it Will Make Canadians Stupid

As Canada is poised to get it's own Fox News, courtesy of Stephen Harper and Canadian tax dollars, there's a story from the U.S. that we should pay attention to.

A study from the University of Maryland has revealed that Extended exposure to Fox News makes voters stupid.

Fox News is simply an extension of the Republican party and they flog ridiculous conspiracy theories, designed to convince the American people of things that are absolutely false.

The troublesome record of spin by conservative television station Fox News has long been a cause for concern to many Americans, who frequently allege that the nation's most viewed "news" network has the effect of dumbing down voters. Turns out, they were right.

A University of Maryland study (PDF) published earlier this month found that people in the survey who had the most exposure to Fox News were more likely to believe falsehoods and rumors about national and world affairs when compared to those who paid attention to other news outlets.

I can hardly wait.

If There is a Cyberwar Julian Assange Didn't Start It!

On the dust jacket of the book Rupert, by William Shawcross, there is a brief description of the rise to power of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the man behind Fox News and our own Fox News North.

From Shawcross: "One Man Has Built an Information Empire That Stretches Around the Earth-from Adelaide [Australia] to Hollywood. Now he Stands at the Threshold of Unprecedented Global Power":

Admire or fear him, you can't ignore Rupert Murdoch. Chances are, no matter where you are, he influences your life through his newspapers, magazines or TV network. He is perhaps the world's most successful businessman, a baron of the global village—and his power is growing every day ... In a brief time, Murdoch has transformed himself from the owner of a single newspaper in an Australian backwater to the titan of News, one of the world's largest, most sophisticated communications empires. Of the six international media giants (Time Warner, Sony, Bertelsmann, Berlusconi, Disney and News), only News is owned and controlled by one man. Only News stretches completely around the earth. And only News has Murdoch, the tycoon whose life has been, in the words of Shawcross, "an unending assault upon the world ... a series of interlocking wars" ... always buying and trading for more power.

Those words were written more than a decade ago and since then Murdoch's media kingdom has only gotten bigger and more powerful.

And before he decided to move into Canada to poison our political atmosphere, we already had Conrad Black and Izzy Asper.

Connie was behind much of the success of the neoconservative movement. After buying up most of the Canadian media, he used people like Mark Steyn and David Frum to shift it to the right. Stephen Harper was also an invited scribe, in an attempt to persuade Canadians that wealthy people only had our best interests at heart.

He also directly promoted Stockwell Day, even allowing Ezra Levant to hold fundraisers for Day at his house. Meanwhile, he himself, hosted $1000.00 a plate dinners, where Day was able to schmooze those who could afford to pay $1000.00 for a meal.

In Trevor Harrison's book; Requiem for a Lightweight: Stockwell Day and Image Politics, he discusses how the media created Day, and "explores the growing problem of rational democractic politics in an age of celebrity, image, and instant culture".

Izzy Asper was very much behind Stephen Harper and the Reform party, even writing some of the party's policy, in exchange for throwing the massive weight of Canwest Global behind the man.

Which brings us to Julian Assange.

He has captured the public's imagination in a way that few have been able to. It's a David and Goliath story, as he is standing against the media moguls, whose primary goal is to spin, contrive and poison.

And he is amassing an army of the willing, who with simple slingshots have taken down Visa and MasterCard, and are ready to topple more, even if only for a few hours.

The India Economic Times describes this army, who call themselves Anonymous.

While most countries have ploughed much more attention and resources into cyber security in recent years, most of the debate has focused on the threat from militant groups such as al Qaeda or mainstream state on state conflict. But attempts to silence WikiLeaks after the leaking of some 250,000 classified State Department cables seem to have produced something rather different -- something of a popular rebellion amongst hundreds or thousands of tech-savvy activists. "The first serious infowar is now engaged," former Grateful Dead lyricist, founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation John Perry Barlow told his followers on Twitter last week.

"The field of battle is WikiLeaks. You are the troops." Some of the more militant elements on the Internet clearly took him at his word. A group calling itself Anonymous put the quote at the top of a webpage entitled "Operation Avenge Assange", referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange .

And in Australia, the native son [Rupert coincidentally is also from Australia], has tongues wagging and pride showing:

At a start of the year, I dare say relatively few of Julian Assange's compatriots would even have heard of the Queenslander who founded Wikileaks. Twelve months on, however, he is rivalling Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman for the unofficial title of the world's most famous Australian. Clearly, he is the most talked about and consequential. This week his face peers out from the cover of Time magazine, always a useful measure of global significance.

Is this really the start of a rebellion against corporate media and American Imperialism, now that it has been exposed in all of it's ugliness?

A source of comfort for those of us suffering from a news deficiency? Who are tired of spin and media created politicians?

If it is, it's been a long time coming.

Media Manipulation: Journalists or Playwrights?

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

When media mogul Rupert Murdoch, first met Ronald Regan, he was surprised at how old and frail he was. Murdoch had been invited to the White House for a luncheon and Reagan actually fell asleep during the meal. 'The other guests went on eating and the waiters continued to take the plates away'. (1)

Murdoch later described the experience as "awful".

He had backed the Reagan campaign but the man he saw was nothing like the man he had portrayed. How could this be?

In their book Newsmongers, Mary Anne Comber and Robert Mayne, present an interesting theory on election campaigns, comparing them to plays. The stage is set and the actors assigned their roles. It is then up to the media to write their lines, and they rarely allow them to go off script.

Ronald Reagan was billed as the "Great Communicator", and though revisionist history paints him as a much loved man, in fact he was never really that popular, and had a horrible track record. But he could communicate. He knew how to deliver his lines. The media applauded.

A favourite journalistic device is to compare politics to a stage play. Politicians are referred to as actors on the political stage. In any story some politicians have lead roles and others are cast in supporting roles. They give performances and the spotlight tracks them across the political stage. One implication of this device is that it allows journalists to play the role of theatre critic. (2)

Neocons have recognized this and found a way to capitalize on the phenomenon, by creating the characters themselves. They even publish the playbills, also known as "ten percenters".

Stéphane Dion Starring in 'Not a Leader'

When I attended a townhall meeting in Kingston during the 2008 coalition attempt, one of the speakers was a retired professor from Queens University. He had been the head of the political science department and told of how Mr. Dion was one of the most respected men in his field. He was quoted often.

In his book, the Rights Revolution, written in 2000, Michael Ignatieff placed Dion as a leader in the understanding of group rights and multiculturalism. (3) He was also the author of the Clarity Act.

In Losing Confidence, Elizabeth May describes Dion's uphill battle to have the Kyoto Protocol adopted. She reveals how Stephen Harper and Jack Layton colluded to call an election on the exact date of the "opening day of the most important global climate negotiations in history." (4) And simply because they didn't want the Liberals to look good on the International stage.

Forget that it meant that Canada would look good on the International stage. I lost a lot of respect for Jack Layton after reading that.

But despite the ploy, Stéphane Dion would be victorious as a result of the most selfless act of any politician in a very long time.

Dion told the world immediately after the government fell that he now worked for the United Nations. He said he would resume his life as a Canadian politician on December 10, when the meeting was over.

Incredibly, he steered the meetings to the high-water mark of possible objectives, across every issue. I may never have had a happier moment than when the meetings concluded on December 11 at 6:17 in the morning after round-the-clock negotiations. Dion brought down the gavel on the most aggressive possible actions to advance limits in the next commitment period, set to begin in 2013. (4)

Can you imagine Stephen Harper ever sacrificing his own political career for an opportunity to allow Canada to shine?

I may never have been as devastated as when Stephen Harper was elected, knowing he would do whatever he could to stop progress in reducing greenhouse gases. What we didn't see as a further disaster in bringing down the government on November 28 was that it effectively rendered the Montreal negotiations invisible to the Canadian public. The media was off on the typical brainless pursuit of Canadian election as horserace. Policy and science, particularly UN discussions of the climate crisis, were not going to be covered in an election campaign. (4)

And when Dion became the party boss in 2008, Harper immediately went to work, laying out the play's story, and narrowing the dialogue. And despite proving enormous leadership on the world stage, Dion's "character" was that of a bumbling idiot with weak leadership skills.

And Harper, who lacks any real leadership qualities, played the role of the strong commander, who would slay the recession dragon and pull Canadians out of the abyss. One he threw us into.

Benjamin Disraeli once said: “I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?" Harper lacks the skills to motivate and bring out the best in people. He also refuses to share the limelight. He is a one-man show, and those around him, only there for his amusement.

When he was running the National Citizens Coalition his VP, Gerry Nicholls once suggested that there was a problem with a billboard that Harper had designed, but when he shared his thoughts, Harper responded icily "I don't give a f--- what you think." (5)

He feels the same way about us, believe me.

Michael Ignatieff Starring in 'Just Visiting'

After the successful run of 'Not a Leader', our budding playwright was ready for a sequel with the new Liberal leader. And while he needed to downplay Dion's enormous diplomatic success, he now had to destroy Michael Ignatieff's history, as a member of one of Canada's most important families.

So how best to do this? Cast him in the role of a man who only returned to Canada as a matter of convenience. He was 'just visiting'. If he didn't become prime minister he would return to teaching at Harvard, where he headed the Human Rights department.

But in a clever plot twist, despite the fact that most of Ignatieff's career was spent in the UK, where he made documentaries for the BBC, including one that won him a Gemini; worked as a war correspondent, taught at Oxford, Cambridge and the London School of Economics, and wrote 17 books, they had to make Canadians believe that he was somehow an American. So they capitalized on a two letter word 'we', that he used to connect with his audience when working in the U.S. (for only 5 years)

And the audience lapped it up. The media held their flashlights, directing the patrons to their seats, and called the play a triumph. Of course they would. They wrote the lines.

And if any among them gave the play a thumbs down, they were dismissed as Liberal hacks and a promise made that they would "never work in this town again."

Time For a New Play

With an election on the horizon, rumour has it that Harper is working on a new play, the working title: 'The Coalition is a Coup'. It's got pirates and everything.

But personally, I'm not too impressed with his skills as a playwright, so I think it's time that Canadians collaborated and wrote their own play.

'Goodbye Stephen Harper'. Catchy, don't you think?

Order your tickets now. It's guaranteed to be 'Sold Out'.

Previous:

Media Manipulation: Setting Agendas and Shielding Your Bum

Media Manipulation: Conrad Black and the POWER of the Press

Sources:

1. Murdoch, By William Shawcross, Simon & Schuster, 1992, ISBN: 0-671-67327, Pg. 197

2. The Newsmongers: How the Media Distort the Political News, By Mary Anne Comber and Robert S. Mayne, John Deyell Printing, 1986, ISBN: 0-7710-2239-5, Pg. 17

3. The Rights Revolution: CBC Massey Lectures, By Michael Ignatieff, Anansi Books, 2000, ISBN: 978-0-88784-762-2, Pg. 11

4. Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and Crisis in Canadians Democracy, By Elizabeth May, McClelland & Stewart, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-7710-5760-1, Pg. 3-5

5. Harperland: The Politics of Control, By Lawrence Martin, Viking Press, 2010, ISBN: 978-0-670-06517-2, Pg. 12

Ezra Levant, George Soros and Fox News North

Ezra Levant is an obnoxious little man.

Now that that's out of the way, I wanted to throw in my two cents on Levant, George Soros and Fox News North.

There has been an ongoing battle since we first learned that Stephen Harper used taxpayer money to hire Ari Fleischer and take Kory Teneycke to lunch, so he could import an all nasty right-wing nonsense, all the time, Fox News station in Canada.

Teneycke passed his taxpayer funded interview and was chosen to head it up.

And to prove that he could be just as vile as Glen Beck, he attacked anyone not on board with the project, including the wonderful Margaret Atwood.

But then when the advocacy group, AVAAZ started a petition to block special licensing for the station, Teneycke went a little too far, and appeared to have been complicit in some underhanded sabotage. He resigned and has been replaced by someone who isn't nuts.

But Ezra Levant, another Glen Beck wannabe, not content with just attacking Margaret Atwood and AVAAZ, wrote a column attacking one of the philanthropists who has donated to the organization in the past. The billionaire George Soros.

Billionaire George Soros has made a living wrecking the lives of others. Now he wants to mess with Canadians cried Levant.

And in the article he made libelous statements, suggesting that Mr. Soros collaborated with the Nazis in Hungary in 1944, to save himself. He also claimed (not merely suggested but claimed) that Soros stole Jewish possessions and that he was part of a group that actually murdered his own people.

It was pretty out there. It was also completely false. George Soros's only crime as a 13 year old living in a Nazi occupied country, was to pose as a Christian to save himself. He has been very candid about this and you would be hard pressed to find anyone not willing to do the same thing under those circumstances.

It's called survival, not betrayal.

Sun media was forced to apologize, and George Soros is now apparently going to sue both the paper and Levant. Levant should never have written it and the Sun should never have printed it. They knew that but did it anyway. I hope they get nailed to the wall.

So Why Did They Target George Soros?

Many people donate money to AVAAZ, so why did they single out George Soros? I think it's because he donates a lot of money to humanitarian causes and is everything Neocons hate.

- He has been critical of George Bush and called his administration the "Bubble of American Supremacy." Soros said the Bush administration "violated human rights and damaged American security by invading Iraq and deposing the regime of Saddam Hussein. 'The idea that we can impose our will on the world is really just the wrong idea,'" he said, vowing "to do everything in his power to prevent Bush from winning re-election. He grew up under an oppressive regime and saw the damage that Imperialism can do.

- He has been critical of the country of Israel (He is Jewish and not anti-Semitic)

- He provided funds to help black students attend the University of Cape Town in apartheid South Africa.

- Provided funds to a group campaigning against the death penalty

- He is one of 80 wealthy liberals who have pledged to contribute $1 million or more apiece to fund a network of think tanks and advocacy groups to compete with the potent conservative infrastructure built up over the past three decades.

- He has provided funding to help fight climate change

What a horrible "life wrecker".

But Then on the Other Hand we Have Rupert Murdoch

The man that Harper and Teneycke wined and dined to get this station, Rupert Murdoch, is also a billionaire. And he has used his media outlet to not only advance right-wing causes but squelch negative press.

For instance, when he was on the board of Philip-Morris, he routinely withheld any stories that revealed the dangers of smoking. From a 1985 PM internal report: As regards the media, we plan to build similar relationships to those we now have with Murdoch's News Limited with other newspaper proprietors. Murdoch's papers rarely publish anti-smoking articles these days. To sum up, then, on using our natural allies. We have made a start; we have proved that it can be done; we have found that they can be a very effective force; and we intend to do more in the future.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that tobacco can "wreck lives".

And Canadians are not the only ones rejecting Fox "News" style media. The UK is also fighting against the spread of this disease.

Our democracy is under threat if Murdoch wins control of Sky: Britain's great film producer once warned Tony Blair of News Corp's intentions. His fears are now being realised

Media monopoly: It's time politicians said no to Rupert Murdoch Vince Cable must refer the bid for BSkyB to Ofcom

Rupert Murdoch's Sky takeover should be blocked, Vince Cable told: Claire Enders writes to business secretary arguing he should stop News Corp buying 60.9% of BSkyB it does not already own

And let's see if this doesn't sound like what happened in Canada, after it was discovered that Murdoch's News Corp. had hacked phone lines to get what they wanted.

It was all looking so good for Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Transition to new government achieved with a few favours owed on account of switching sides to support the eventual winner. Better still, a company stalwart at the new prime minister's side – director of communications and key adviser, no less. All in all, really very well placed to manage the political side of News Corp's fortunes as a major (and growing) force in British and international media.

Now scroll back to News International's defence of its conduct. Its position was based on two issues: that phone hacking was restricted to one "rogue" journalist and one private investigator and that the man then in charge – the editor, Andy Coulson – knew nothing about it but nevertheless did the right thing by resigning.

Eerie isn't it?