The first GOP presidential debate for 2012 was held in South Carolina the evening of May 5, 2011. Participants were Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, businessman Herman Cain, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson.
And here’s who the focus group picked as the winner – almost unanimously: (H/T The Other McCain)
Herman Cain!
You can watch the full debate below. The debate was moderated by some of my favorite Fox News people: Juan Williams, Bret Bair, Chris Wallace and Shannon Bream. This is the most even-handed questioning I have ever seen in a public debate, especially Chris Wallace.
Herman Cain, Mitch Daniels and Rick Santorum had no score.
My candidate is Michele Bachmann. I don’t like any of the others in that poll. I absolutely cannot stand Romney, Huckabee, Trump, Gingrich, and Paul. I don’t think Palin should run. Pawlenty is highly qualified, but not conservative enough for me.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper has emerged from the election campaign as a much more powerful prime minister and will lead a majority government with four years to change the country.
At a rally of his supporters here, Conservatives cheered and celebrated Monday as the results rolled in from throughout the country, confirming that Canadians, in large numbers, had given Harper the trust he had sought in the five-week campaign.
As the evening wore on, Harper’s party was coming within striking distance of reaching the benchmark threshold — 155 seats — they needed for a majority. When the Tories crossed that threshold, a great cheer erupted in the hall here in Calgary where supporters had gathered to celebrate and listen to Harper’s speech.
The Conservatives success came as the NDP made historic gains at the expense of the Liberals and Bloc Quebecois, which saw their popular vote drop as they lost seats.
In recent days on the hustings, Harper had portrayed the election as having historic consequences for the country. In addition, his own personal future was at stake.
It was clear that with a majority victory, Harper will be regarded by historians as a political success story who united the political right in Canada.
He will have a four-year mandate to implement significant change in areas ranging from tax policy, to the criminal justice system, to foreign affairs.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has won for a third time the leadership of Canada, in a stunning vote which changed the country’s political landscape.
As the ballot counting wore on over six times zones and more than 5,000 miles from Atlantic to Pacific, Harper won his great aim, a majority government after two minorities in 2006 and 2008. The television networks declared his majority victory well before 11 p.m. ET. The Conservatives may have won 160 to 165 seats when 155 are needed for a majority in the 308-seat House of Commons.
While a Conservative victory again was always considered quite possible, the countrys political landscape was altered in three stunning ways:
The New Democratic Party, a rump group of social democrats in the 41st Parliament with 36 seats in the 308-seat House of Commons, surged into becoming the chief opposition party in the 42nd Parliament with about 105 to 108 seats.
The former chief opposition party, the historically great Liberal Party of Canada, the government of the country for more than 100 years of Canada’s 144 years since Confederation of separate British colonies into one nation, sunk to a very poor third with perhaps 30 seats. Michael Ignatieff, who became Liberal leader exactly two years earlier to the date, was looking to lose his Toronto-area seat.
The Bloc Quebecois, the separatist party from the French-speaking province of Quebec, was wiped out by the surging NDP, from 47 of Quebec’s 75 seats to perhaps two seats.
While the social democrats in the new Democratic party hold a powerful position in the House of Commons, the Conservatives with their majority will enforce a program which by and large is what foreign and domestic business and investors prefer.
The Conservatives will bring back a budget which was lost in the last Parliament when the election intervened 36 days ago, and will continue with a further tax cut for corporations, but a reduction in spending it said would bring back balance during 2014, erasing the federal budget deficit the Conservatives created after 11 years of Liberal government-created surpluses.
Prime Minister Harper campaigned for a majority saying his Conservatives were the prudent economic managers while the others were “tax and spend” parties. He will keep the same course. Economists have said that they see no significant changes in deficit reduction or in monetary policy under the Conservatives.
Jack Layton was found laying naked on a bed by Toronto Police at a suspected Chinatown bawdy house in 1996, a retired Toronto police officer told the Toronto Sun.
The stunning revelation about the current leader of the New Democratic Party comes days before the federal election at a time when his popularity is soaring.
When the policeman and his partner walked into a second-floor room at the Toronto massage parlour, they saw an attractive 5-foot-10 Asian woman who was in her mid-20s and the married, then-Metro councillor, lying on his back in bed.
The suspected bawdy house at 787 Dundas St. W. where Jack Layton was found was one of 26 raided by Toronto Police in Project Cobra in the mid-1990s.
Asian crime gangs were feeding off the bawdy houses that stretched across Toronto from Chinatown East to Parkdale.
Police assigned to Project Cobra hit 26 bawdy houses and laid more than 300 charges.
“Police were cracking down on underage girls from Thailand,” a former asian crime unit cop says.
“It was unregulated and unpoliced … it was a lucrative business, the girls were pulling in $600 to $700 for a couple hours work,” he says.
The setup at 787 Dundas St. W. impressed the ex-cop.
The guy who ran the place controlled traffic with a red and green light system from the second floor where he could see down a stairway to the street.
“The setup was amazing … when the police showed up, the manager flicked on the red light switch — which told the girls to pretend it was a legitimate business — rubs only — keep it clean and the green light meant they could perform sexual services,” he says.
[Graphic details omitted]
Police were most concerned about underage girls brought in from Thailand and Vietnam.
The other women in the bawdy houses ranged in age from the 20s to 50.
Blazing Cat Fur has link to Sun News Network breaking news video.
Here it is:
So why is no one else in the media covering this spectacular story?
Mainstream media reporting Layton’s denials, but no facts
A letter from Layton’s lawyer also denied any wrongdoing from their client.
“The facts are that Mr. Layton had obtained a massage from a massage therapist, but had no knowledge whatsoever that the therapist’s location may have been used for illicit purposes,” Brian Iler wrote in a statement.
“He does recall being advised by the police at the time that he did nothing wrong, but that the location was questionable, and to be stayed away from. Mr. Layton gave the officer his name and address, and nothing further happened.”
The CBC would not print the details of the story – they just cited Layton’s denial, Layton’s wife’s denial, and Layton’s lawyer’s denial. That’s it. That’s their news story – listening to one side of the story. They refused to report any of the facts from the Toronto Sun articles that I cited above, or even to show a picture of the massage parlor. If this story had been about Stephen Harper, they would have been all over it.
Today I am looking at the news headlines and every single story from the mainstream press (excluding the Sun newspapers and blogs) is spinning for Jack Layton. For example, the Globe and Mail story doesn’t even mention that he was found by police NAKED on a BED – or that this “massage parlor” had been previously raided by police for suspected sex-trafficking and prostitution, or that the woman was a Chinese national.
WINTERY KNIGHT 