In fact, in the view of a growing number of Liberals, Rae and his inner circle are busily at work on making the interim job permanent.

Assisted by a group of take-no-prisoners strategists who haven’t been seen since the brief Paul Martin era, Rae is making plans to jettison the many Michael Ignatieff loyalists who still make up much of the Liberal Party executive. Once that is done, Rae apparently intends to secure the approval of his own loyalists to seek the full-time job.

That is something that should never, ever be allowed to happen.

For starters, the Liberal Party needs new blood. Too many of its MPs had been in the House of Commons for too many years, which is one of the reasons it lost so badly on May 2.

Offering up a leader like Rae — who will be closing in on 70 by the time the next federal election takes place — is a big, big mistake.

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The story about Hudak signing the petition emerged on a blog by a smart woman who keeps an eye on things. She noticed that Hudak’s stance, or lack of one, was reported on the ARPA website.

I’m sorry I missed it but I thought it was an Association of Retired People. But it was the Association for Reformed Political Action, which the Star reported is a group that “aims to make members of reformed churches more a part of public debate.” Fine. What troubled me is that the group’s executive director, Mark Penninga, didn’t think the mention on his website, while accurate, was newsworthy.

The blogger “had a chip on his/her shoulder,” Penninga said.

And yes, she did. But what he and Hudak and Harper should understand is that abortion is not a “chip” on a woman’s shoulder, it is her body and her life, her internal sanctity and her choice.

I am warning those who want Canadian women to lose their right to abortion that this will not be a skirmish. It lives in the hearts of girls and women. We will fight you on this.

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Honestly, I don’t know what is worse — the Norway massacre, or various right-wing pundits’ bizarre response.

I’m overstating my case deliberately, of course. There can be no doubt Anders Breivik’s mass-murder was a horrific crime, one that has shaken Norway and the world. It left nearly 80 dead, most of them young people — and some of them as young as 14.

To target and murder children, as Breivik did, was sick, inhuman and — clearly — profoundly evil. Of that, there can be no doubt.

But some right-wing commentators have sounded profoundly indifferent to evil in the days following the Norway massacre too. Variously, these commentators actually seemed to suggest the victims deserved to die, or the killer wasn’t entirely bad, or Breivik — who had views about Muslims and immigrants eerily similar to their own — wasn’t in fact motivated by those views. Here is sampling…

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Read her.

And, BTW, it amazes me how this issue has been driven – almost completely – by Ontario-based feminist/pro-choice bloggers. Truly amazing.

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Um, you’re wrong.

The poll also suggests Hudak’s views on abortion may have hurt him.

(The polling firm) found 56 per cent of Ontarians think women should be allowed to terminate a pregnancy in all circumstances with 35 per cent agreeing in some circumstances. Only eight per cent are outright opposed to abortion.

Hudak once signed a petition calling for an end to government funding for the procedure but has said he will not reopen the divisive debate, although he considers himself “pro-life.”

“The one thing that can kill the Tories is to be caught out on a social issue and there’s nothing like abortion in terms of a social issue,” said Bozinoff.

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My daughter, back from a month at camp, was singing this with me in the car last night (we saw AF, as did Daisy colleague Josh, at a simply amazing show at the Phoenix last month).  The song reminded me of Tony Grenco, I told her.  I don’t know who that is, she said.

“You never will, either,” I said.  “No one will.”

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…which go hand-in-hand. Worth a read.

The right-wing commentariat worry that they might end up being seen as the philosopher kings, if not the actual motivation, for Anders Breivik’s terrible crimes.

They should.

More on this in the Sun on Sunday.

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You can add this one (like abortion, like HST, like FDK, and a bunch of other issues) to the bulging HUDAK IS FULL OF CRAP file:

**

Barn story lays an egg; PC’s red tape tale ‘not a good example’

(Windsor Star, Sharon Hill )

The Conservatives have egg on their faces after claiming there’s so much red tape in Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario that egg farmers are told what colour to paint the insides of their barns.

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak used the example last week and Wednesday it was again part of a news conference and news release by Essex PC candidate Dave Brister as he repeated the party plan to cut the number of provincial regulations by 30 per cent if elected.

The barn-colour regulation cited as an example to cut overregulation doesn’t exist.

“As far as anybody who’s ever dealt with poultry here, there is nothing we regulate on that,” said Susan Murray, a spokeswoman at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Pamela Bolton of the Egg Farmers of Ontario also said she wasn’t aware of any provincially regulated poultry palette.

“It’s probably not a very good example,” she said.

When it comes to egg laying, chickens don’t seem to care about the colour of the inside of the barn and neither does the Egg Farmers of Ontario, which has no colour rules, said Bolton who serves in the marketing organization as a project manager. She said there are recommendations about painting wood to keep the barn cleaner. Even if the Tories are referring to an egg grading station, that would be a federally inspected area and not a provincial regulation, she said.

When questioned, Brister and Ontario MPP Toby Barrett of Haldimand-Norfolk, who was in Kingsville for the news conference Wednesday, tracked down the source of the example to a March news story from the Ottawa region where a farmer questioned if the government should be allowed to dictate the colour of an egggrading area.

Brister didn’t back off the example even when it appeared there is no provincial regulation.

 

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Wow! Someone has already done up a fun little web site for that paragon of political integrity, Tony Grenco. Check it out!

And while you’re at it, send Tony a plate of ribs as a goodwill gesture! I certainly plan to!

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