You say RINO and I'll say LINO

40°44' North; 73°55'West

While he's no Space Cowboy, apparently some people like to call him the Gangster of Love.

Republicans, of course just call call him Traitor.

But that doesn't stop Michael Moore.

In fact, Mr. Moore was in the belly of the beast (the U.S. Republican National Convention) all week long and he's come to an interesting conclusion about many of the rank and file members of the American Elephantiasis party:

"I've often found that if I go down the list of "liberal" issues with people who say they're Republican, they are quite liberal and not in sync with the Republicans who run the country. Most don't want America to be the world's police officer and prefer peace to war. They applaud civil rights, believe all Americans should have health insurance and think assault weapons should be banned. Though they may personally oppose abortion, they usually don't think the government has the right to tell a women what to do with her body.

There's a name for these Republicans: RINOs or Republican In Name Only. They possess a liberal, open mind and don't believe in creating a worse life for anyone else.

So why do they use the same label as those who back a status quo of women earning 75 cents to every dollar a man earns, 45 million people without health coverage and a president who has two more countries left on his axis-of-evil-regime-change list?

I asked my friend on the street. He said what I hear from all RINOs: "I don't want the government taking my hard-earned money and taxing me to death. That's what the Democrats do."

Money. That's what it comes down to for the RINOs."

Which got us to thinking.....do we have a Yin to that Yang up here in British Columbia?

That would be the part our electorate that is Liberal in Name Only; red meat 'free-enterprisers' who cringe and put the wad in their wallets under lock and key every time they hear the Oxford Dictionary definition of the term, which is:

"generosity and tolerance"

According to this week's shill, deputy house leader and private health clinic subscriber, Barry Penner, the LINO's are safely in the fold. In other words, the B.C. Liberals have nothing to fear from a Chris Delaney-led merger of the rightward-listing provincial Unity and Conservative parties.

At least that's what Penner told Mike Smyth on the latter's ridiculously shrill new call in show last night.

But then federal Conservative house leader John Reynolds weighed in on Delaney's fusion:

"I know there's people who think it should be there and believe we should have a Conservative party in every province of Canada at the provincial level. And our caucus wants to have a full discussion about that at the end of the month."

That sound of shrieking metal you hear is the new hole being blasted through the already porous hull of the S.S. Gordon Campbell.

And what's doubly ironic about Mr. Reynolds statement is the fact that he made it while attending the US RNC in New York City. Have to wonder if Stockwell Day's biggest fan ran into the Gangster of Love while he was there?

After all, we hear that MMoore looks great in a wet suit.

(kudos to Sean Holman of Public Eye for tracking Mr. Reynolds down in Gotham)