While visiting The Prairie Wrangler I made an unsupported allegation about Garth Turner, without the obligatory qualifier "I believe". I am deeply ashamed for this omission and am publicly withdrawing my accusation.
Over this past fifteen months since Garth began making such an (alleged) ass of himself that I actually noticed his existence, I have written about him many times. In those posts, I suggested (among other things) that Garth is:
alienating, arrogant, a blabbermouth, a bore, disloyal, divisive, gossipy, idiotic, indiscreet, malicious, nasty, petulant, self-righteous, self-aggrandizing, smug, spiteful, whiny, vengeful . . . you get the picture.But this time I went too far. I accused Garth of (prepare yourselves) . . . comment fraud.
The following email was sent to me by Garth, warning of the dire repercussions if I did not provide proof (or I suppose -- if I didn't take it back):
I swear I thought a bolt of lightning might shoot through the computer screen given the biblical proportions of his threat. What a dramatic and ominous articulation of intentions. It's like he's made a covenant. Garth Turner vows to make me -- 'suffer the eternally discrediting consequences' of not submitting to his will. 'Suffer' is such a harsh word to use and rather ill-advised by an MP in these circumstances. Shocking that someone in Garth's position would be so reckless in his use of language. And who's he going to discredit me with? My readers? His readers? The government? My boss? God? If Garth has the ear of the Almighty . . . I shudder to think.Garth's 'or else' blustering was a bit easier for my children to grasp, spending so much time with other kids as they do. They still recall the simple art of verbal sparring at the 'Am not! Are too!' level, which I've long since forgotten. My youngest daughter suggested I use her favourite retort: "make me!" but I certainly don't want to 'suffer the eternally discrediting consequences' he promised. I've seen what Garth has done to his own credibility -- there's just no telling what he'd do with someone else's if he got a hold of it.
My offending comment was an off-handed remark, really. It's probably inaccurate anyway, because like my kids said after they finished laughing -- other pathetic publicity-hounds like Charlie Sheen, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears have groupies -- why not Garth Turner?
When I first read his menacing email, I was so disturbed that I contemplated committing blogicide, but then I realized two things -- first, that I could feel better by going public, and second, that Garth had paid me a huge compliment by trying to intimidate me. By threatening to discredit me, The (allegedly) Honourable Garth Turner, was in fact saying that I am 'credible'. I blush! What flattery! And from such an unexpected source.
In the end, I make the following supplication:
I, canadianna, humbly repent and do earnestly beseech thee, most ridiculous MP, to forgive me my transgression against thee. Amen.*** Note -- The above petition is made on the off-chance that Garth comes by his (alleged) God complex, legitimately.
Oh, and Garth -- I'm just a blogger and not an iconic one at that. I have a relatively small readership, no fancy titles, no prestigious office, no groupies. The only people I care to have 'credibility' with are my kids. They respect me. They scoff at you. I'm fine with that, thanks.
canadianna
51 comments:
Threats like that...and thats INDEED a threat if anything is... shows hes losing. He dared say to the past president of the Halton CPC EDA that he was losing it. If anyone is losing it, Garth is.
Garth does enough to expose his own hypocrisy and idiocy on a daily basis with the fiction he speews on his blog. To challenge another bloggers credibility to that of his own shows flagrant hypocrisy.
Garth should just do his job and develop thicker skin. We know that wont happen.
Thanks for standing up to that bully Canadianna!
One word of warning, Turner "allegedly" had the RCMP start an investigation against RepoCrepo (of "Whats Right is Right") for "slanderous comments" about Turner on his blog. I know of one person who was "allegedly" called by the RCMP about it.
If this happens to you let us know. There are those who would LOVE to catch him in the act of this abuse of power.
Thanks for standing up to him :) I can't believe he would do that, you would think he has better things to do as a Liberal like planning his next tamper-tantrum about the "evil-ness" of the Harper government.
Everything you said about Garth is (I believe)the truth - right down to where he pays himself compliments on his blog by using other names (Jackie Chan??? - who knows )
Oh - and Garthie, if you are reading this, just so you don't sick the RCMP on me - this is all just my opinion and in this country of "free speech" we are still allowed to do that.
You have made numerous nasty,
?slanderous? (I believe) comments about those who do not agree with you (myself included)., In fact, you used one of my comments as fodder for one of your nasty posts - yet, I did not call the RCMP to have you "investigated".
You sir, are not worth the time or the trouble to do that. Yet, it seems you can dish it out, but you can't take it.
For my sin of making some negative comments about something you wrote, I have been blocked from further comment.
So much for the Free speech you profess to hold near and dear to your heart.
Grow up Garth - oh, I might add - I believe you should grow up.
The first thing I noticed was where the email came from. Looking at that, "I believe" Garth is spending his time at work reading and responding to blogs.
When I first read his menacing email, I was so disturbed that I contemplated committing blogicide
Hilarious!!!
One thing bothers me though. I don't recall Garth using the word 'alleged' when calling the Prime Minister of Canada a political whore.
Strange.
What a pathetic creature he has turned into...way to expose Canadianna....
Well done, Canadi-anna. You've put that political pygmy in his place with such finesse --he might not actually notice.
What a surprise to see that the (alleged) Halton Liberal delegate spends his time reading blogs and threatening female citizens with such cowardly resolve --I believe.
I say delegate, of course, because Garth does not represent nor does he appear to have much of a clue about representative government. In anticipation of the likely threat that I will receive for my saying that Garth doesn't represent, I should advise the Halton delegate to read some Edmund Burke, or to read him again, but closely this time.
Garth is the man who claims, let's not forget, that he is trusted by millions of Canadians. I feel compelled to confess that I humbly count myself among the millions of Canadians who trust him.
I can always trust him to be: alienating, arrogant, a blabbermouth, a bore, disloyal, divisive, gossipy, idiotic, indiscreet, malicious, nasty, petulant, self-righteous, self-aggrandizing, smug, spiteful, whiny, vengeful, and self-deluded.
I find delegate Turner to be very dependable.
Anna — I think Garth was being quite utterly facetious when he made his so-called “threat” about suffering the eternally discrediting consequences. How do I know that? Well, to be honest I don’t, of course, but when someone phrases something that way using the word “eternally” I automatically take that as a signal they intended the remark to be considered in a somewhat humorous vein.
Might I ask, did you write back to him and ask if he was serious? Also, did you apologize for accusing him of comment fraud? I saw you make that remark over at Olaf’s place and thought at the time what a curious thing it was to say, but people say lots of ill-considered, offhand things on blogs, so I didn’t think much of it beyond that. I can certainly see how he would take some offense to it though as that’s a rather serious charge to make as far as those things go in the “blogosphere.” Nobody likes to be accused of mucking about with other peoples comments to suit their purposes or worse, of sock-puppeting, as that’s just pathetic behaviour.
Anyway, that’s my two-cents. You might want to keep that in mind before you and your readers get worked up into a tizzy of self-righteous indignation over this. Then again, I could be wrong. I really would suggest that, if you haven’t already, you go back and clarify the matter with Mr. Turner.
red tory -- this open letter is my apology. No, I didn't write and ask him if he was serious. If I took him seriously, I wouldn't have written this.
You need to get a sense of humour.
He can't help it , it's the Liberal coming out in him. Threatening is parr for the cource when your a Liberal.
Timothy Coderre
I forgive you. Now you need to take some lessons in sarcasm.
Garth
The first thing I noticed was the time Garth Turner sent the e-mail.
Surely he has more important business to attend to. How much does he get paid to read his blog?
He wants you to take lessons in sarcasm?! That's priceless. What a dumb thing to say. Clearly, he didn't get your post.
Whatever.. Garth wants to say he was being sarcastic. There are tools in blogging and writing (of which he is an "expert" and all) that you can use to show sarcasm...
Things like (sic), a smiley face, a HA HA afterwards...anything. That was a veil threat and now hes trying to back down. Typical liberal style.
Garth, you fit in quite well with your new party. Lie, threat, and dismiss. Good on you.
TurneG9@parl.gc.ca?
G9?
I have the email addresses of a couple of MPs with names longer than Turners and they don't have any numbers in their email addresses.
Did you check the full email headers?
A sig line that includes his personal website in an @parl.gc.ca email?
- got any thoughts on that?
I admit, I used to admire Garth.
Not so much now. I just read his blog post from yesterday. He described the budget implimentation vote as "whipped".
What a joke.
stageleft -- I don't know what you mean by 'the full email headers'. How would I check something like that?
I did notice that it says 'personal', so I don't know if that means anything, but like I told someone else, I never tried to email him so I don't know.
If you suspect it isn't real, you could try. I've been 'forgiven', so I think I'll just leave it at that.
The full email headers would show the details of who sent the email - how that's accomplished with MS Hotmail is unknown to me, I don't use their service.
I did send an email to the address, will let you know what happens
Funny how Garth backs down and throws out the old " it was a joke" when he has been exposed.
Unfortunately for Garth, we all know it wasn't a joke.
Like I said - time to Grow up Garth!
wow. You put Garth and RedTory in their places, all in the same day.
you go, girl.
I believe his faithful employee (also a opportunistic party jumper) Esther just might be writing under several pen names. Please note I said "I believe" and "just might"
Good point annon. Make sure you preface everything you say about the Mighty Blue Turtle with "I BELIEVE" and "ALLEGED" so that you wont become a target like others have from Garths Camp.
And its totally not a stretch to have Turtle-Man Turner send out his troops into the blogisphere to attack those non believers.
At least thats what i THINK. ;) Keep up the good work Anna.
I need to get a sense of humour? Your first several comments here appeared to take the whole thing seriously. Your post was absent of any real comedy, so I guess I missed the alleged “sarcasm” you claim to be present. Sometimes it’s hard to tell with right-wingers whether they’re attempting to be funny or are actually aggrieved crackpots. When the line between parody and reality is practically indistinguishable, as so frequently is the case in BT-Land, one never knows.
RED TORY loves to come and raid sandboxes...he never brings anything but his poor pathetic self spewing his own brand of venum. Not enough to do in your own partisan spot? Not exciting enough?
Canadi-anna said...
RT -- I make no claim to sarcasm. I simply said I don't take Garth Turner seriously. Hardly the same thing. It was Garth himself (apparently) who mentioned sarcasm. It would seem that like you, he's unable to appreciate subtlety.
Some of my commenters hate Garth. It isn't that they didn't get that I was making fun of him, it's that they chose to use this opportunity to vent.
Maybe my comparing Garth with a child and implying he might actually believe he's God are too close to the truth for you to have inferred humour, but really, I was jesting. If you think those things are true about him, just make sure you put 'alleged' or 'I believe' in front of it if you write about it, and I'm sure you'll be fine.
Unfortunately, sometimes it's difficult for some people to synthesize the information they read. Reading comprehension is more than just knowing the words.
Don't beat yourself up over it. Apparently it can be learned.
Red Tory, I saw the humour in Canadi-Anna's posting right off. It wasn't difficult to spot. In fact it would be difficult to imagine it was serious.
It was cute post actually that poked good natured fun at Turner and his pompousness.
R.T. I hope you are not giving a kneejerk defence to Turner simply because he's a Liberal. The guy REALLY IS a self important doofus. (And YES! I am quite certain, [seriously], that he DOES post admiring comments about himself and agreeing with himself on his own blog under assumed names. I actually accused him of this once several months ago but he must have missed it or ignored it- whatever).
Red Tory, I'm a conservative and I'm sure I would disagree with much of what you say, but if I can offer you some friendly advice? It would be, don't sully yourself by siding with Turner. He's a complete goof and if you side too closely with him you might get tarred by association unfortuantely.
Turner is a former journalist (so of course he's a liberal) and in other ways as well he's typical of those low lifes.
HEY EVERYBODY!! LOOK AT MEEEEEEE!!! I'M MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU!!!
He got sick of TELLING people how to think, act and live at the SUN newspaper so he ran for office so he can ORDER people on how to think act and live.
It shows what kind of bottom feeders make up the journalism community that they would HIRE a no-talent loser like TURNER.
Anna — Maybe it’s one of those things where you have to be in the treehouse, so to speak, to get the joke. Like I said, with some BT sites, I really can’t tell if they’re actually serious or not. For example, now and again I pop over to see what Canadian Sentinel is up to and what nefarious liberal perfidy he’s uncovered today. I just kill myself laughing at his unhinged raving, but also know that he’s deadly serious. Others... perhaps not so much. Or are they? Not that I’m suggesting your post was deranged or anything. I could just see somebody writing what you did and being really quite earnest about it. Not knowing you at all and coming at the thing cold, evidently I made an incorrect assumption. My apologies for that.
As for the Internet performance artist known as Garth the Magnificent®, I have no great fondness for the man. Apparently many of your readers feel the same way. It's kind of hard to feel neutral about a media chatterbox like him. Everyone’s got an opinion when it comes to Garth.
Personally, I find his antics quite laughable for the most part and his desperate craving for constant attention to be an unending source of amusement, although it’s tinged with more than a little pathos, I have to confess. I’d probably take him to task myself for some of the ludicrous things he says and does, but I’m pretty sure all the fish in that particular barrel have been shot already.
Now, all that being said, I will give the guy credit for his outreach on the web. He’s totally over the top with it, but I do think it has merit in concept. Certainly when compared to many/most MPs that seem quite happy to just ornament the furniture in the House of Commons, he’s kind of refreshing that way. I like the way he engages his constituents and reaches out to ordinary schmucks like all of us here with a computer, an opinion and a bit of free time on their hands. There’s something almost sweetly egalitarian about it.
RT -- the saddest thing is that some very good ideas will never come to fruition because of the manner in which Garth presents them.
I do not like that Turner man. I do not like him Sam I am. I do not like him on his blog. His furry face looks like a dog. He lurks around the blogosphere. His turncoat ways are without peer. I used to like him way back when. Before he crossed to join with them. But now he sort of makes me sick. To think that I once liked that........man.
To Anna:
You're quite often judged by the critics/enemies you make. That you got Garth Turner more than a little piqued with you indicates that you are a blogger worth visiting regularly. I've just added you to my list.
Garth who?
I've read enough from of Red Tory's comments to know he does not have a sense of humour...he's always grouchy...typical of him to come here, try to defend Garthy, then tell you to lighten up!It was fun 'til he came around.
INP...that was terif!
And Canadianna...your are real class! Keep up the good work!
Don't apologize to that piece of dog crap. He's all bark and ball licking. Not bit there at all.
He barely qualifies as a man. He's a wimp and a self deluded twit.
His only redeeming point is that he is a sterling example of what a semi high profile loser looks like.
Instead of discrediting you, he has done the opposite.
If you are annoying Garth, then you are worth a regular visit.
Will visit again.
--
The guy writes like a 15 year old that just discovered a thesaurus.
Anon — You're half right. Grouchy, yes. Humourless, no.
The only thing that puzzles me about your attack on Garth is that he is your only ally re income splitting that you and Sara want so dearly.
Have you told Sara what you've done????
anonymous -- if income splitting comes -- it will be despite Garth Turner and not because of him.
And no, I don't run my posts past other bloggers. Sara has a laudable agenda and on most issues we agree, but I will not refrain from commenting on Garth because he happens to agree with us on income splitting. As much as I dislike Garth, I doubt he'd change his position on that issue to spite me.
Way to go, C!
*sniff*and to think I knew you before you got big & famous enough to warrant a personal email from the (alleged) Big Cheese of Halton*sniff*
Garth has been shown to change his blog posts when not telling the complete truth. That's why you struck such a nerve. the only reason he is now saying he was joking, is because he is now suffering the "eternally discrediting consequences" of his own childishness.
He probably didn't expect you to call him up on this, Canadianna. Well done.
I thnk you've made a mistake by referring to Garth's "readers." Surely that should have been "reader," no?
you guys are idiots. Canadianna LIED as a blog comment. I'm suprised Garth even bothered to respond to your garbage. You should be happy that Garth cares - no one else does.
anonymous -- canadianna LIED as a blog comment
Conjecture is not a 'lie'. My statement would only be a 'lie' if I know for a fact it isn't true -- which I don't.
That and a twoonie will get you a large at second cup. Your message was predicated on slander and dishonesty. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Do you honestly think you blind partisan hacks will get undecideds to vote for you when you're being so blatantly dishonest? I voted for Stephen Harper (indirectly since I liked Peter Kent) in last election. PRECICELY BECAUSE OF BLOGS LIKE THIS will be why I never vote for him again.
"I've seen what Garth has done to his own credibility -- there's just no telling what he'd do with someone else's if he got a hold of it." That made me laugh out loud, literally. You're a terrific writer as well as thinker. Cheers!
This is the last response I'll make to "Garth supporters" who followed a link to this page:
Garth? Is that you?
Canadianna, judging by the comments by anonymous 3:14 PM and by anonymous 5:54 PM (they're probably the same person), it is quite obvious that you have hit several sore spots. Nicely done.
And there, but for the grace of Garth, goes God...
nice post, it's really interesting for me today, thx
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