lotusland - nervous politics from a laid-back city

harper too good for the superbowl

his whole "Being prime minister of Canada I can assure you I focus my exclusive football attention on the Grey Cup -- which is always much more exciting'' was so vomit-inducingly corny.  the prospect of watching their lame 'attack' ads during the super bowl was also utterly lame.   im sorry, but michael ignatieff braying about the environment does not go with beer and football.  conversely,  maybe iggy the american gives these ads a bit of  yankee flavour that would complement a treasonous sunday afternoon spent watching the super bowl.  at any rate, it is my impression that the ads did not air during the marquee slot due to copyright considerations.  pity.

feelings i have after watching these ads:
1. i am so glad i didnt watch the liberal leadership debates or go to the convention.
2. these ads, they say nothing.
3. getting things done for all of us has got to be the lamest slogan ever.

this election is going to be a youtube election, yada yada.  first person to lend/buy me a video camera gets to socialize with all the bikini girls im going to have in my grassroots youtube revolutionary internets videos. 

harper and same-sex marriage

honestly, what the fuck is this, besides a cheap attempt to make nice with his base?  conservatives like to call this "re-opening the debate on same-sex marriage" while i like to be more specific and call it "making unconstitutional laws that run contrary to the opinion of a majority of canadians in order to pander to special interest groups."

42 of the 158 mps who voted for same-sex marriage arent in the house anymore, so i guess this is their chance to ignore the popularly-accepted interpretation of the charter of rights and freedoms to advance their religious agenda.

organizations such as the defend marriage coalition hate our freedom. 

socons, im sorry to report that questioning the right of homosexuals to marry ignores popular opinion and provincial rulings. 

what of civil unions?  what is the difference between granting "marriage" or a civil union that encompasses all the rights and provisions of what the state defines as marriage?  the word "marriage," i guess.  so petty. i was raised catholic and i learned that a marriage in the church is valid in terms of catholic life (its a sacrament) while a marriage at a courthouse or wasp-style in some bigass garden or at a hindu temple is not a marriage in the eyes of (catholic) god.  the churches have the power to define marriage on their terms for their members.  should they have the right to determine this for the rest of canada?  hell no.  (emphasis on the hell)

nobody is making the churches marry gays and lesbians, so i dont know why this is such a huge concern.

hastert's little switcheroo

reposted with explicit permission from this man.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Ill., center, gets out of a Hydrogen Alternative Fueled automobile, left, as he prepares to board his SUV...after holding a news conference at a local gas station in Washington, Thursday, April 27, 2006 to discuss the recent rise in gas prices. Hastert and other members of Congress drove off in the Hydrogen-Fueled cars only to switch to their official cars to drive the few blocks back to the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

helena guergis wtf; west wing remains awesome

i have nothing notable to say about helena guergis at this time, except that this looks like a freakin album cover, and isnt that hilarious.  youth vote holla back...

in other news, the west wing continues to be the most awesome show on television despite its tendency to jump an ocean's worth of sharks every single episode.  chief of staff banging the first lady's chief of staff?  please.  president bartlet a)being wrong about war between nuclear powers and b)admitting it to hurricane santos?  yeah right.  the episode did have its moments, though.  after making us look at bradley whitfords homely mug all season, they brought back the hot rob lowe action and then turned it up by having him occasionally stand next to president jimmy smits.  how does that insidious little douchebag manage to be hot while doing such unsexy things as playing an attorney and wearing rimless glasses?   ill never know. 

im a douchebag. sorry.

so, it seems i havent been updating this thing at all, really.  no, i have not quit blogging.  it seems my ire hasn't been raised much these days.  id provide explanatory photo evidence, but such documents are not even fit for publication on teh godless intarnetz.

something raised my ire today, though, and it wasnt the lack of pew space at easter sunday mass.

"I'm not Islamophobic," I protested. "I've dated Muslim women. I'm very partial," I added, lapsing into a modified bit of Brit vernacular, "to Islamototty. "Under no circumstances are you to say that in print," he said sternly. ("Totty" is Britspeak for "hot babe" or "hot babes." The form can indicate singular or plural, as in "I went to a party at this duke's pad. Talk about your posh totty." Would have been nice in Austin Powers, but it may postdate Austin's sixties' heyday.)   

 

erm, no. 

1. if you want to engage in ridiculous cocktalk, get a fucking personal blog.  even though it's the western standard, a lot of people reading it might be into manners and politeness and all that.  it's a recognizable publication and has a bit of media authority and cred as the voicebox of new canadian conservatism.  id say "act accordingly," but maybe this kind of juvenile crap is what you want to project to the nation.

2. dating an islamic woman doesn't give you islamocred.  it doesn't make you less prejudiced, either.  you remind me of this girl 99% of ubc hates to death because the second the word "racism" is mentioned in a lecture, her cracker hand starts shooting in the air because she has some irrelevant shit to tell us beginning with the phrase "MY BLACK FIANCEE" ... dear white people:  stop insisting your desire to stick your, erm, hands all over someone is a mark of your tolerance and understanding.  horniness is not a political act.

3. totty is actually slang for prostitute in some circles of anglos who havent become accustomed to its rehabilitation as a pg-13 level epithet.  isn't that pleasant.

men (i guess ill specify hetero) dont like it when feminazis like myself question the way they speak about women.  they dont like being reminded of asymmetrical power relationships or gender or anything that smells faintly of a way of seeing the world that doesnt rely on an overly simplistic universalism.  men dont like it when you tell them to stop acting like boys, because obnoxiousness is seen as some kind of right. 

i can take a joke, i can make a joke, but there is a time and a place... yknow?  i dont take that shit from men *and* i can laugh when things are actually funny and thats probably why im dating someone awesome and out of my league.

***

i do welcome others spamming their blogs and online casinos in the comments, but do be warned that 1. i will visit your site and 2. i will tell you if i think it kinda sucks. 

it is not rare that i attack people of considerable public stature.  it is rare that i say a blog sucks.  i kind of feel bad doing this, but dude took my pet peeve and made it his blog title. 

http://bcpolyblog.blogspot.com

lotusland remains vehemently opposed to anyone who thinks "poly" is an abbreviation for the word "politics" as it is already a prefix in its own right.  this is a stupid and illiterate thing to do, and it's something i see all the damn time as people in my degree program can't get enough of this shitty shorthand.  POLI SCI.  WITH A FUCKING I.

thank you and happy easter.

harper, you are a fatass.

only in the sun... 

The PM's pudgy middle is more than just an issue for photographers and editorial cartoonists, however. There is no shortage of medical evidence that carrying all that extra weight sharply increases his risk of medical problems, like cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes, along with everything from cancer to high blood pressure, gallstones and gout.

ok, all that health stuff, plus fatness is freaking hilarious.  admit it...

no cut and run, folks

harper said:  "There will be some who want to cut and run, but cutting and running is not my way and it's not the Canadian way," "We don't make a commitment and then run away at the first sign of trouble. We don't and we will not, as long as I'm leading this country." (hat tip to sinister thoughts).  this was march 13, 2006.

the washington post said: For the 22nd time in a speech as president, Bush said we would not "cut and run" in Iraq. this was written december 15, 2005.

maybe these hippies pointing out cliché overkill/sharing amongst conservatives are being trivial.  nah, it actually does sound that stupid.  "dont cut and run" is great criticism from a coach during a game and maybe you could call your band "cut and run" or something... how come the various handlers wont let leaders speak of war in non-folksy and non-sterile terms.  only soldiers can pull that language off. 

as long as harper doesnt continue with the hackneyed bushisms, the quality of rhetoric in canada should be ok.  meanwhile, 10 points to anyone who forwards me harper using the word "rejectionist."

now for the armchair advising:  how about not reusing clichés bush & co employ to death?  why are you co-opting his way of describing dissenting opinion.  do you think he is doing a good job as a uniter? 

stephen harper is a crazy hockey dad!

supporting quotes, via ctv (and candace, who is donning a tinfoil hat):

"I can watch my son play and say, 'Gee, I wish I could play like that,' because I was not much of a hockey player and I wish I could have been," he said.

"I really did lose it once last year, but I wasn't alone, when my son set up a goal where it was scored dead-centre in the net and the refs didn't call the goal," Harper said. "It was the worst call I ever saw."

He admits that, "I'm a pretty intense parent, but we have to tone it down for public purposes."

garth turner commenter, you are the funniest person on the entire internet

i love conspiratorial nuts.  (from this thread)

By the way Mr. Turner - your Blog has been inundated by Liberal trolls pretending to be shocked and dismayed Conservatives.
There is a well-orchestrated team of such bloggers who are intent on keeping this alive so Canadians are distracted from the real issues of the day - uncovering Liberal corruption being the one they most want to drown out.

Some of these bloggers should ask the Liberal war room for a few more original phrases as the ones they are using are getting over used.
Oh, and maybe change the syntax a bit in your writings as that is as telling as a fingerprint.

now im going to go up to my room and cry because theres a stealth-spamming liberal blog gang and i wasnt asked to join. 

david emerson petition

sign to recall emerson, because crossing the floor before swearing in makes a mockery of the whole voting thing.

the pm will have a tall, extra hot, non-fat, 1 pump hazelnut, 2 pumps vanilla latte.

this document may shock you.  courtesy of dipper vigilante bza, i have obtained photographic evidence of harper enjoying a starbucks beverage. 

while harper may represent the t-ho crowd (as w. kinsella would lead us to believe), he seems to be in bed with the dark side.  as i go to ubc, which boasts more places to buy starbucks beverages than, say, books, i definitely recognize the starbucks cup, white lid and all.  if im not mistaken, that's a coffee sleeve encircling the base of the cup - one that uses 45% less paper than a double cup.  t-ho's kicks it old school and offers you the double cup if your fragile hands cant handle the scalding.  that blurry text on the side of the cup is definitely one of those friggin ridiculous "the way i see it" rants on the side.

eh, ive seen albertans drink starbucks before.  in fact, i believe it has "good coffee" status in the eyes of most wasp canadians, which is cute.

so, i guess this changing of the guard means the progressive bloggers will be the ones with all the OMFG SCANDAL updates.  i wonder if i should join them.  is it time?  should i be blogging about this instead of starbucks?  ugh, but the blogging tories all looked so stupid doing it and all they ended up with was a crappy minority government.

we'll see.

a woman's answer is vague and circular, so grab your beers and popcorn for this one.

maybe it's my age, but ive never heard this expression before.  ive always blamed my verbosity, fickle nature, and proclivity to  engage in non-linear argumentation on the fact im in political science.  should i be blaming my vagina?  the cbc seems to think this is a cheap ploy to score political points, which is kind of interesting.

moreover, youre not supposed to go around accusing voters of being negligent, fat, winos.  i dont know that being a statist makes you crazier than believing a devout consumerist - i dont advocate closing our critical eyes. honestly, though, martin probably buys a lot of beer and popcorn with the tax loopholes he makes himself.

homosexual sex marriage!

rob anders just keeps givin'er when it comes to his lifetime goal of tarding out all over the country.  its definitely a sign of the times (exam period) that i found out about this richmond event via some calgarian and not from, you know, being awake during normal hours and walking around and finding things out as i go about my business.  if i were an old person, id probably say its a sign of the times and the internet revolution and have you heard of blogs.  but im not.

this following bulleted list displays what rob anders *really* needed to ask richmond people.  i dont know why he had to send them one of these leaflets.  ok, thats a lie.  he sent that shit because he gets a budget from the house to send this kind of thing to his own constituents and he can even allocate a portion to out-of-riding spammage.  i guess when youve got a safe seat, the party kind of likes it when you send a bit of your party-affiliated paper stuff to a battleground riding.

• Do you like the way Paul Martin spends your taxes?
• Are the Liberals doing enough to fight crime?
• Do you support homosexual sex marriage?
• Do you think more should be spent on the military?

now most of that is standard fare, but wtf is  'homosexual sex marriage' .  i guess its parliaments next gay rights debate. now that the equal marriage legislation has gone through, theyll probably start demanding we recognize their "sex marriages," too.  this has gone too far.

now, maybe catholic school wasnt the best place for me to get my sex ed, but i heard that all good, christian marriages had sex in them.  im just blushing as i type this, but being the blossoming young woman that i am, i am certainly planning on having a heterosexual sex marriage now that ive found out that a sex marriage is some kind of different category. 

ok, ill stop making fun of his grammar.  really.  ill even get conspiratorial.  was the use of "homosexual sex" intentional to rile up people who are very disturbed by other people's freedom to engage in  consensual sex between adults?

i think some rob anders page should be #1 on google for the phrase "homosexual sex marriage" ...

how to demoralize your base in five easy steps

from bound by gravity (im sure youve all read it, but its worth reposting):

1. "Expose" scandal involving Liberal patronage appointment
2. Produce "facts" to back up claims of scandal
3. Make sure scandal is widely published
4. Encourage supporters to join in the pillorying of the accused
5. Shrug uncaringly when scandal turns out to be blown out of proportion

ive suspected this all along, but now i can confidently declare pallister is officially a complete wad.

bound by gravity thinks dingwall's speedy resignation is a tad suspicious.  personally, i dont blame anyone for getting the frig out of a job when it becomes a baseless witch hunt.  sorry liberals, but youve been there so damn long that the probability of someone in the ranks taking power for granted and engaging in unscrupulous behaviour is likely increasing.  throwing an obnoxious party over dingwalls exonoration isnt exactly the high road when youve got other trust issues on the public's radar.  sorry conservatives, but screaming every three seconds about every little thing is not exactly advisable if you want canadians to see you as a serious opposition party and a plausible replacement for the libs.

monte solberg had a dizzying bit of spin-o-rama on the issue.  look, mr solberg, i know how tempting it is (as a fellow geek) to spin everything into an ideological claim.  it happens.  still, it seems that the common sense thing to do would be to apologize to canadians for wasting our time with a poop-slinging show.  you can post on the evils of statism and liberal blame-dodging once you return to regularly scheduled blogging.  it's not like you're going to wake up in a canada that doesn't provide you with ridiculous amounts of blog fodder.

THE MOVIE IS ABOUT PENGUINS, PEOPLE

ok.  when i was in new mexico, everyone couldnt shut up about that stupid penguin movie and how someone cried while watching it, etc.  i thought it was a new mexico thing.  vancouvers obsessed and the whole damn continent is paying $10 to see a bunch of penguins for a few hours.  this, my friends, is messed. 

what is even more messed is the stuff people are reading into the penguin movie.

One Christian organisation, the 153 House Churches Network, raves over the film as proof of the glory of God. It is organising workshops in which families are invited to homes and cinemas to see the film.

Christians can be inspired by exemplary "dedication, cooperation and affection" between the mating penguins and the loyalty and perseverance of the father, says Mari Helms, reviewing the movie on www.christiananswers.net.

Rich Lowry, editor of the right-wing publication the National Review, urged young conservatives to check out the documentary.

"It is an amazing movie. And I have to say, penguins are the really ideal example of monogamy," he said last month.

Anti-abortionist campaigner Jill Stanek says the nurturing penguins were a stinging lesson to women who contemplated a pregnancy termination.

"I remembered last year's March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC, when pro-aborts gathered to bolster their right to kill babies," says Stanek, in a column on WorldNetDdaily.com. "I thought maybe a penguin movie analogy would help people understand."

holy crap.  literally, ha.  but seriously, people, this is a movie about penguins.  get over it...

kim campbell and her russian boyfriend

im sure we've all heard about the new mulroney bedtime stories. im still giggling over his assertion that kim campbell lost cos she was too busy screwing around with her russian boyfriend.  russian boyfriends will be the fall of mankind as we know it, surely. 

in my experience, russian boyfriends are very low maintenance and can amuse themselves for hours on end if theyre supplied with meat-containing food, a palm with chess on it, black tea, a lot of books, and an internet connection.

tierney shows us the truth is for pussies

hat tippage to crooked timber for this sparkling gem:

Tierney, of the Institute of World Politics, identified five groups: ANSWER, Not in Our Name, Code Pink, United for Peace and Justice, and MoveOn.org. He said these groups "come from the Workers World Party" and are an "umbrella" for smaller groups, such as the "Communist Party of Kansas City" and the "Socialist Revolutionary Movement of the Upper Mississippi." Of the last two, he said, "I'm just making these up."

tierney's institute is an umbrella for the nazi party of milwaukee and the white power association of eastern washington.  yeah, im just making those up, but you know what i mean because im basically pulling stuff out of my ass that reinforces your simplistic worldview of conflating extremist politics with democracy-oriented political activism.

maybe they're reform party fans?

britney spears and her husband want to name their baby boy preston. 

calgarygrit webpoll HYSTERIA!

im going to paste a comment i saw on cg's webpoll:

This blog-poll is a leading indicator of what will transpire in February.

Of course, Trudeau should win, hands down.  But there are no militants out there supporting him.  meanwhile, righties are chomping at the bit to beat him down.

In February, Liberals supporters will stay home.  Tory supporters will climb walls to cast a ballot.

I think the Liberals should be planning a leadership campaign, beginning March: who's going to face down Prime Minister Harper?

ps.  I voted for Trudeau.  I could never cast a ballot for the idiot "non-aligned", "harper is scary" Joe Clark.

so-called "righties" (ugh, yay for friendly-sounding pseudonyms) are "chomping at the bit" (curious invocation of rabid dog imagery) to defeat the martin government.  case in point? 

TRUDEAU IS LOSING THE WEB POLL!

truly, the methodology behind his conclusions is amazing.  the definition of the word militant that he employs in his study is compelling and timely.  from now on, a militant will be defined as someone who will go to great lengths to defend their cause, specifically defined as reading blogs and voting in webpolls.  hardcore militants use proxy isp's.

conservative transit policy

ok, so i feel bad for my previous piss-taking entry on the conservatives.  so im going to give them some props for a good idea:  the transit income tax deduction thingy.

ok, so given my u-pass status (and who knows if the upass program, with its $200ish figure as part of ubc tuition/ams fees, will qualify), id save around $42.  people who buy translink monthly passes, or westcoast express tickets, would save much more. 

good idea, yes.  poorly executed, yes.  i say poorly executed cos i dont like the way this has been framed.  they stress that this transit rebate is a "Made-in-Canada!!!!" approach.  i think by this, they mean "unlike that kyoto thingy rick mercer keeps plugging."  the way theyre selling it has left a vile taste in my mouth i cant quite blame on the putrid instant coffee ive been drinking.  i really get the feeling the conservatives want to pursue a few small initiatives without assuming the responsibility the kyoto protocol places on us.  did you know everything could be solved with tax breaks?

it's a great idea, but they should stop framing it as more than what it is.

the upass is a financial incentive for ubc students to take transit.  at $22/month, its exponentially cheaper than driving to school for most kids.  there's been a distinct increase in ridership, so it is effective.  still, i dont know that this kind of initiative addresses the whole problem of emissions reduction.

conservative party ads.

so c-grit did a good job reviewing them, but i have to add a few things as an occasional film student and shit disturber.  ok, so this has more to do with shit disturbing and having a good laugh at the expense of some crappy political ads:

1. the one about "new canadians" - why does rahim jaffer remind me of randy from trailer park boys?  hes more attractive than randy.  hes wearing a shirt and hes not toting a cheeseburger.  i think what is happening here is that harper is employing jim laheys intonation and his rant style, while jaffer is piping in with the randyesque "that's right" ... bev oda, despite being a person of colour, is not an immigrant, unless thunder bay is actually not part of canada.  id stick up for immigrants' rights despite being born in canada and i dont think it would make me less canadian, but ive heard people of colour get pissed off that people deem them immigrants sooner than theyd assume white people would be immigrants. 

2. the one about "healthcare" - rona ambrose and peter mackay are demonstrating the hotness of conservatives.  the only problem is that peter mackay isnt hot.  at all.  women canadian political junkies are really fucking pathetic since he is often the only heartthrob they can come up with.  rahim jaffer is way hotter than this dork, but hes brown so he had to be in the new canadians bit.   i dont know if i can sit through more of these.  youd think mp's would be better actors than this.  qp isnt even this contrived.

3. the one about "childcare" - look canadians, my caucus must be hot and young, cos im pimpin some young babes here, and they agree women want choice in childcare, and.. uh..  LOOK AT THOSE KIDS, THEYRE MAKING MACARONI AND PAPER PLATE MARACAS FER FRIG'S SAKE, AND YOU LIBERAL ANIMALS WANT TO SADDLE THEM WITH THE DEBT?!  i dunno.  why is he with only women in the ad?  because kids come out of vaginas?  kids have fathers, eh.  also, why does rona ambrose reference this as a "women's" issue?  i can appreciate that single mothers have a hard time with childcare, but single fathers also exist.  dont BOTH parents care about childcare?  oh, well, harper is holding up the fort for men... but he brings women up, too.  heh.

4. the one about "taxes" - prentice and whats-her-face are the most convincing actors the tories have, it seems.  maybe they should have used more old people in their campaign.

monte solberg declares it's JUST cultural genocide, so chill out, you pc police/aboriginals!

in his rant about how the cbc wants to label terrorists people with type a personality disorder, monte solberg goes on an interesting, disturbing tangent:

I mean its not like we're perfect here in Canada, so who are we to say what is bad? Did you know that Canadians have committed genocide? Well, okay it was cultural genocide, but still...

which "cultural genocide" is he mentioning?  is it just me, or is this medicine hat mp making light of the effect of canadian policy (such as the residential schools) on aboriginals throughout history?  if he doesnt take aboriginal issues seriously, he could have brought up the sudan or some other black mark on canadian interventionism...

but whens the non-partisan alliance cruise? we can go somewhere neutral like sweden.

Anyway Ezra has now set his sights even higher. He is no longer just a publisher and Conservative opinion maker. Ezra Levant is now a cruise director!

I admit when I first stumbled across the two page glossy ad for the “Inaugural Western Standard Caribbean Cruise with Ezra Levant” I thought it was another example of Ezra’s wit, but nope – it’s a legit enterprise.

According to Ezra he is offering you the opportunity to travel the Caribbean with “like minded Conservatives”. He’s a genius that Ezra. I’m sold. Personally I cannot think of a better way to spend a week in December than watching a group of like-minded sun-baked conservatives, liquored to the tits, gobbling Dramamine, and complaining about Canada.

You can go to his website and learn all about it. My favourite part is the speakers list. You guessed it: ten white guys! It’s like the Love Boat but without girls!

Highlights of the cruise will be the all you can eat buffets and the opportunity to have a photograph/autograph session with Colby Cosh, Ted Byfield and Andrew Coyne!

mission unaccomplished

"Conservative con artists will figure the angles and work out the attack lines to use against the liberals -- whatever it takes to drown out the fact that, nearly four years after 9/11, Bin Ladin still lives and Al Qaeda is back in business. Mission unaccomplished."  (maddest props to bilmon and hat tip to sinister thoughts)

so "liberals" (whatever the deuce the bastardized garden-variety definition of the word 'liberal' is) get to sit around and think theyre right cos islamic fundamentalist terrorist groups still exist and murder people, and "conservatives" (people who link everything to gay marriage?) get to use this event as evidence that we need to step up the (seemingly futile) war on terror?  (and nobody listens to anyone and we all drown in a sea of size-36 font, animated us flag graphics, arab names, and cheesy pseudo-churchillian war platitudes.  lovely.)

people freakin died, folks, and the best we can do is retreat into our pre-fab dittohead ideological hidey holes.  heh.  im not saying cross-partisanship is the answer, and im not saying non-partisanship is the answer.  what i am saying is that we have to try a little harder.

i, for one, can honestly admit that i know that i dont know what to do about islamic fundamentalist terror cells.  regardless of my inability to solve the worlds problems and rid the blogosphere of dittohead white noise, i have one thing to contribute to the discourse.

for starters, id like us to stop calling everything al-qaeda like it's some kind of concrete organization.  this frames the terror attacks as a conventional war with two sides and an identifiable enemy.  the terrorists in the al-qaeda umbrella are independent cells spread across the globe, and this is why every country, regardless of whether or not theyre in the coalition, has a responsibility to crack down on violent acts of terrorism.  the usa does not need to coordinate this in any way as every country has policy instruments to deal with terrorism and to coordinate with interpol and other relevant international organizations.  in fact, given the crappy attempts at intelligence during the iraq war, maybe it would be better if the usa and the uk didnt do the job.  nobody should have to grant special access or oversight responsibilities to the coalition members.  of course, military assistance is another matter, but countries ought to mind who theyre asking.

the multiculturalism myth, harper vs. the bloc, canada day, and fob surnames

dear ainges bosses:  please do not fire me for work blogging.   i just need one teeny weeny little postypoo before work.  it gets the blood flowing early in the morning.

i have to wish stephen harper a belated wtf is wrong with you, man given his little anti-bloc outburst.  maybe the media and quebecers i know are too complacent, but last id heard, the bloc wasnt actively pursuing sovereignty.  in fact, they seemed to have evolved into a regional interest party devoted to making the liberals look as inept and corrupt as possible.  sounds like the old alliance, eh?  probably makes harper all jealous, wistful, and homesick. 

canada day is coming, and ive made no plans of yet.  is anything remotely awesome happening in vancouver?  maybe ill just spend the day being really canadian by, legally buying 19-year-olds alcohol, or eating ethnic food and calling the people who run the restaurant "new canadians" while feeling really good about our country over maple frappucinos and serious debate about healthcare, which is the most important policy ever.

the impression i get from people in canadian cities is that the dogma of multiculturalism has only really helped white people.  race cant be discussed in such fluffy terms.  telling ourselves we are inclusive because we are canadian and canada is a mosaic that welcomes immigrants is kind of bullcrap.  it's like we've created this lexicon so we can impose our desired image of multiculturalism on ourselves without really addressing internalized racism in any serious sense. 

yeah, we're nice, but we havent always been nice.  how are we going to learn about racism if we dont give ourselves the language we need to explore it?  the word "racist" has become an insult, even though it shouldnt be.  it's an adjective that needs to be used to describe oppressive behaviour. 

now, im a fob.  im a white fob, but im still a fob.  nobody spells my last name right - people like to ignore the final consonant and end it with the penultimate vowel because it seems more italian and exotic that way.  or because theyre dumb and unattentive, but hey. 

apparently michael ignatieff cant become pm because nobody knows how to spell his name.  um.  am i the *only* person in the entire effing blogosphere who hasnt run into the word "chretian" or "cretian" (the latter may be a cretin's attempt to spell cretin)?

budgetmania 2005!!!!!!!

why do people think this is so exciting? OMG THE LIBERALS/NDP/BLOC TOTALLY HAD THE VOTE WHEN THE CONSERVATIVES WERE SHORT. what did you think they were going to do, have it when they themselves were short? ha.

why do people think this is so sleazy? maybe the conservative party whip desk should brush up on their parliamentary procedure, because canada isnt actually a fascist state despite martins fanatical will to maintain power. its all there in montpetit & marleau. shame on the conservative whip desk staff, i guess.

the one thing that is semi-offensive here is that they had the vote very late on a friday evening. western/northern/nfld mp's tend to head home a bit earlier than the rest of them. the ontario/quebec folk can take the train, and maritimers benefit from all those direct ottawa-halifax flights. if the mp's who are far away from ottawa want to maintain anything close to a constituency presence, they have to duck out earlier.

but the conservatives havent brought that up yet. theyre too busy saying words like "separatist" and "socialist" to describe a watered-down nationalist protest party and a watered-down social democrat party. like its 1950 or something.

another thing thats annoying is calling this "the ndp budget" due to that ndp budget amendment.  thats like me letting my 5-year-old cousin tell everyone she cooked the pasta because i let her crush the garlic.

nina grewal, where are you?

tim murphy actually called the liberal party "a welcoming mat that has a lot of nice comfy fur on it" on the grewal tape.  cute.  in vancouver, we prefer vegan-friendly metaphors.

im kind of tired of seeing gurmant grewal's head all over the place, railing on about corruption when hes suspected of being a profiting practicioner himself.  id like to see nina's head for a change.  after all, she is mentioned on the tapes. 

i sincerely hope that at the end of the day, the canadian public will dismiss the trio of grewal, murphy, and dosanjh as kind of idiots who got carried away before the vote.  naivete is in the air.  machiavelli would not be impressed.

***

since steve was wondering, the lack of posts here can be attributed to excellent concerts with friends (timo maas, stravinsky at the vso), drinking napoleon brandy along the arbutus train tracks with slavs and rosemary/fidel, sitting around in the park with sally and her dog, working, reading wonderful wonderful times by jelinek and madness and civilization by foucault, hanging out at hafez persian tea house, and missing the fun ride known as aija's aerostar.

belinda stronach is a bimbo! look, she has blonde hair and a vagina! infallible proof!

basically, this whole situation makes me glad im about as fugly as cheryl gallant, because now i know that if i join the conservatives and screw things up, at least the party and the media will obsess over how crazy i am, rather than making all these curiously gendered comments and speculations regarding my sex life.

thanks, ontario.  b.c. tries to steal the limelight with an election and referendum, and y'all spring this belinda thing onto the news cycle... i feel so westernly alienated!

im no die hard fan of belinda stronach's judgement.  unlike her, i didnt think anything good would come of an alliance-tory merger.  i dont like how she thinks throwing the word "economy" in an answer makes said answer good.  i dont know why she jumped ship to the sinking h.m.s. martinite.

honestly, the conservatives are annoying the crap out of me in the fallout.  granted, it's no fun being dissed in favour of paul martin, but do the tories *have* to act like the nerd dolefully explaining why he got stood up at the box social? 

harper:  waaah, she did it to be more popular
bob runciman:  waaah, she's too dumb and pretty for me anyway
everyone else:  ooh, i wonder if her and peter mackay are still an item

as cheap as those millionaire types can be, i dont think stronach jumped ship for the free car and ministers salary.  maybe it was because she couldnt stand dealing with the bloc. maybe she doesnt think an election is the best idea right now.  maybe she is just plain fed up with the party she helped merge.

but who knows?  besides a pretty unremarkable cover story in some canadian newsmag i perused at the doctors office, all we hear about is belinda stronach as sexpot with deep pockets.  ive known a few bimbos in my time, hell, im even friends with a few.  i will not deny the existence of bimbos. 

but really, maybe we should be giving more airtime to belinda than to bob runciman types at this juncture...

UPDATE, BIEN SUR:  warren kinsella gets mad props for dissing belinda on account of her words and not her archetype.  due to his curious aversion to permalinks,  youll have to scroll past the "warren kinsella is the devil" to get to it.

harper calling, to the faraway towns, war is declared and battle come down

ainge lotusland, as some of you may know, is totally the best at phone banks.  ok, so perhaps she is just fairly unremarkable, yet a seasoned veteran.  at any rate...

have you been getting the stephen harper phone calls?  they just called my house, and i pretended to be my mommy (ha).

harperdude:  hello, may i please speak to (several syllables vaguely ressembling my dad's fobcore name)
me:  may i ask who is calling, please
harperdude:  i am calling on behalf of stephen harper and the conservatives
me:  he is not in right now  [at this point, i really want to talk to harperdude, cos its actually more fun than the aforementioned showering i was intending on doing]
harperdude:  is (several syllables vaguely ressembling my mother's fobcore name) in?
me:  this is her [total lie, eh]
harperdude:  [recites jingoistic, sensationalist paragraph about jean brault and gomery testimony with lots of stammering and pauses... id give him a 3/10 for completion]
me:  well i dont disclose my political affiliation, but i think its great that youre volunteering for a political party, and have fun reading that paragraph all day long
harperdude:  uh, thanks
*click*

paul forseth says being queer is like being a crip who reps with rainbow instead of light blue

"That's my guess, yes, especially where you have alcohol and drugs and mix that with very short-term changing sexual relationships... There's a lot of jealousy... they [homosexuals] are vengeful, and their health isn't very good. [Skinheads bashing gays] is one kind of marginalized group doing its thing against another marginalized sub-group, which essentially has nothing to do with human rights before the law. It's purely one gang going against another gang."

- New Westminster-Coquitlam Conservative MP Paul Forseth opposing legislation to protect gays from hate crimes, March 18th 1995, House of Commons.  (via electionprediction.org's new west-coquitlam page - if anyone can prove this isnt on the record, be my guest and scan/send me the hansard for that day)

new west-coq, you can demand better than that.  i mean, look who has been repping you for over 10 years.  sad. 

basically, my involvement in the impending federal vote will consist of picking on individual candidates whose personal qualities/opinions offend my sensibilities.  i fancy myself an independent bureau of quality control, providing an invaluable service to any party willing to listen.  i do not request any renumeration for this work, but any purchases from my wishlist or gifts of tomato-and-vodka based beverages will be eagerly received.

also, if a blondish girl sporting many black wardrobe pieces that look vaguely punk librarian accosts you to fill out a mock STV ballot while you do your lame scenester stroll around mount pleasant, do oblige... and say hi.

muzzlegate.ca - a review

today, the young liberals of canada unleashed muzzlegate.ca, an anti-harper site focussing on his attempts to stifle free speech in his caucus.  this intentionally coincides with the conservative party's policy convention where harper has pretty much decreed there will be no consideration of the sort of "moral" issues which seem to galvanize and motivate american conservatives (read: gay marriage and abortion).  maybe canada is really different despite our insecurities regarding cultural sovereignty vis-a-vis the usa, but that is neither here nor there.

not that i want to help the conservatives, but martin is similary perceived as a mr. muzzle type according to staunch pro lifers and anti same sex marriage members of his caucus.  also, the young liberals don't seem to mind the muzzle strategy was also embraced by the ndp which has declared, in no uncertain terms, that the same-sex marriage issue is not a free vote. 

both martin and harper loved to diss chrétien by emphasizing the need for greater backbencher influence through free votes and a lessening of party discipline.  basically, martin and harper love the language of democracy but can't really orient their strategy around such ideals given their precarious position as leaders of mainstream, big-tent parties focussed on electability.  heh. 

so the idea behind the site is a bit tenuous given that martin and harper both lead parties that (in varying degrees) wrestle with (and sometimes quash) backbenchers on social issues ... really, this issue should be up to the conservative party members.  it should be the conservative party grassroots protesting harper's reluctance to address key social policy concerns.  if a significant portion of the membership doesn't want to delve into those matters, then a clear message is sent to canadians:  the conservative party of canada doesn't think these issues are important.

to be fair, the site raises an extremely important point.  ylc head honcho richard diamond's challenge to the conservative youth to assert themselves and secure avenues of influence for young people in the party ought to have been the main focus of ylc efforts.  cheekily challenging harper is pretty much expected from the ylc'ers.  highlighting the insulting and dismissive way that harper and jeremy harrison treat youth participation in party politics is a truly notable contribution to the public discourse and i commend the ylc for doing so.

too bad the letter from diamond is a little pdf file all tucked away at the bottom of "the challenge" section of the site.

monte solberg crow

let me clear this up for you:  given the textual evidence known as the original post, monte solberg was *not* calling martin luther king a knuckle-dragger.  i think our friend at bound by gravity sums it up quite nicely.

monte solberg wasnt being racist in his post.  i was intellectually offended by it, because it showed that mr solberg lacks all semblance of creativity (or a palatable writing style).  nevertheless, i can see why someone might be offended because solberg does cheapen martin luther king's work by comparing the decisive man of action to prime minister dithers.  oh yeah, and he kind of compares the border dispute to segregation, which some have felt likens civil rights fighters to cows.

he says he knows satire can be dangerous because not everyone will get it, but he should keep in mind that writing satire is also dangerous and should be attempted cautiously.  see, satire has to be really funny, incisive, insightful, and involve ridiculous caricatures so people forget to be offended.

solberg calls the backlash the result of a bunch of pmo crybabies.  bound by gravity calls it ultra political correctness.  im going to throw in my two cents and say that right wingers call the waaaahmbulance just as often as their bleeding heart counterparts.  right wingers are whiny little babies who dont like to face the music when theyve done something mean.  theyre very happy in their dreamland where everything they do is splendid and justified; consequently, they go ballistic if you suggest that they might have offended someone because they never do anything unfair.  this is why they deny that systemic discrimination exists, because saying it does might mean they did something wrong.

"Then there are those joyless people who spend their lives looking for reasons to be outraged. These are the people who are offended by everything. What an awful way to pass your days. I really do feel sorry for them."

oh mr solberg... if the phrase "joyless people who spend their lives looking for reasons to be outraged" doesnt encapsulate life as a member of the official opposition, i dont know what does.

posting on a livejournal community, i state for the record:

there was a request by the moderator of the livejournal canadian politics community that people keep it clean.  this was my comment:

interpret this as partisan hackery if you must, but i think we non-cons have to cut the conservatives (in the general sense of the word, not referring to canadian conservative party members) some slack given the vitriol they regularly consume on 'fair and balanced' fox news. yes, the socialists have "biased" rabble.ca and the centrists have "biased" warren kinsella - sources which might encourage us centre/lefties to believe that our opinions are indeed right, but its not like we have a 24 hour news channel that tells us its ok to speak of our political opposites without according them any respect.

how are people who have a regular diet of ad hominem bullshit as news expected to recognize when something is intellectually vapid as a rebuttal or just plain out of line?

yes, cnn is allegedly liberal-leaning, but the only show where spewing epithets is encouraged is a) on the chopping block and b) hosted jointly by a liberal and conservative. and newsworld and cbc tell us its ok to be hard on america... but thats not so much an ideology as an issue of nationalism.

so in conclusion, expecting someone who listens to bill o'reilly and his ilk all day to debate in a  respectful fashion is about as pointless as expecting a kid not to learn profanity on the playground. 

harper's speech - so much for reaching out to immigrants

A range of groups responded yesterday with fury, saying Harper went too far. A flurry of outraged news releases descended on media offices from the National Association of Japanese Canadians, the Chinese Canadian National Council, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, the Canadian Buddhists Civil Liberties Association, the World Sikh Organization, the British Columbia Unitarian Church and the Muslim Canadian Congress. (toronto star)

i guess harper's attempts to reach out to us immigrant types havent really paid off.  of course, these groups are reacting to his speech in the same sex marriage debate (which according to monte solberg, rocked), and not the ad blitz in the ethnic press.   

rona ambrose is an old white man (for all intents and purposes, anyway)

not to turn this blog into some cheap emporium of anti-conservative rhetoric, but rona ambrose's little qp quip on childcare today turned my feminist head:

"Working women want to make their own choices, we don't need old white guys telling us what to do,"

no, rona, we don't need old white guys telling us what to do, but when the aforementioned oppressors are investigating policy which accomodates working families, it can hardly be construed as such.  larry summers aside, how many reports do we hear of the uphill battle working mothers face when confronted with balancing career and motherhood?  a tax break might help the middle classes cope with childcare funding, but a social program would ensure equal access for all canadians.

that being said, responding to her epithet with concrete policy ideas would only validate her outburst.

how does she reconcile this alleged feminism with support for a party that is not open to investigating alternative, equitable means of childcare?  our society has become more open to the idea of the stay-at-home dad, but economic and social conditions still force women to bear the brunt of on-the-ground parenting work.  past approaches to childcare have yet to reverse the discrimination women face when they decide to start families.  too many employers who congratulate fathers-to-be believe a woman starting a family is a liability on their end.

jason kenney says we already have gay marriage

"Marriage is open to everybody, as long as they're a man and a woman. It doesn't say you can't marry if you're a homosexual. The fact is that homosexuals have been married and do marry.''

(mad props to sinister thoughts)

this sort of thing makes me very proud of all my friends and everyone else who came out.  although gays in canada have rights that are unheard of in other jurisdictions and cultures, it's obvious we still have work to do on the acceptance front.  the calgary grit is mulling over polling data that translates the issue into potential liberal seat losses. 

its not just the conservatives gaining interim ground, here.  given martin's amorphous approach to missile defense, it seems anyone who feels strongly about progressive governance is being pushed to the ndp.  i reckon the liberals are kind of banking on a shift back towards their friendly big tent approach during the election crunch by raising the spectre of a harperite canada with scary ads or pamphlets that point out the ndp will never make it over the 155-seat mark. 

that being said, im having issues with my card-carrying liberal status.  my constituency association didnt have a spot for me at the policy convention and im not part of the ubc young liberals, but the southern interior does.  even though i have strong familial ties to the area, id feel odd representing them.  it is precisely because i am close to people who live there that i appreciate the dichotomy between the mentality on the coast (lotusland) and the okanagan.  ultimately, i dont feel these people can be represented by me.  i could satiate my unreasonably naive idealism and be a proxy vote for a relative, but i dont know that i can miss two midterms and hand in a paper early.  it really is bad timing - only the schmoozy young liberals who get extensions on all their papers with sweet-talking (or avoid doing schoolwork altogether) will be there.  it is very likely my big fat X next to the "no, i dont approve of martin" slot wont become a reality. 

you have to hand it to the reform party for having that phone-in convention vote back in the day.  it would be nice if the liberals could extend the same rights to the grassroots and have a phone-in approval vote, but given that the majority of the underhanded politicking that got martin's coup d'etat off the ground happened at the constituency level, im not sure a party can handle that kind of direct democracy.  yeah.  we really want grassroots politics to be some kind of noble, beautiful thing, but the truth is pragmatism and corruption affect every level of party politics. 

ive seen some ugly things at the hands of the local ndp and conservative/alliance as well, so nobody interpret this as me slagging the liberals for their gain. (in other words, dad, dont read any ndp-love into all this - ha.)

tucker carlson, ann coulter slag canada. what else is new?

the most disturbing part of this charming little anti-canadian montage is that compared to tucker carlson and ann coulter, carolyn parrish looks composed.  tee hee.  the cutest bit is hearing wolf blitzer rush to reassure parrish that carlson's commentary is often tongue-in-cheek. 

ok, yeah, carlson is kidding (presumably) and coulter is so ridiculous im sure her persona is some kind of extended piece of performance art.  am i hyper-sensitive to be somewhat offended by these views of canada?

also, on tucker's views of the brain drain - im not "talented" by any stretch of anyones imagination, but id like to point out to carlson that im only going to the usa so i can get the "big american school" phd in order to get hired at a good *canadian* university.

this post is one of many that resulted from conversations with everyone's favourite massachusetts democrat latte-sipping flip-flopper ivory tower academic. moreover, id like to tell the sasha, "hey, mr. propaganda ... do your own research, and stop getting that left wing garbage and throwing it out there for the folks."

apparently people take ann coulter seriously

this is an old story from the election fallout, but procrastination leads me to browse the entire internet in one sitting.

if theres one thing ill never understand, its how people can accept something this ridiculous as principled, conservative commentary.  remember when lisa gave homer the rock that keeps tigers away on the simpsons to illustrate how the bear patrol wasnt really keeping the bears off the streets of springfield?  even he understood.  coulter either doesnt get it or assumes her readers are dumb enough to buy this crap:

The day after the election, documentary filmmaker and Upper West Side denizen Mitch Wood told The New York Times: "Watching my kids this morning, going down the street, flicking things in the air, jumping around, I wondered, are they going to have that sense of freedom that I had growing up?"

As if on cue, a commercial jetliner piloted by Islamofascist hijackers did NOT crash in front of Wood at this point, killing his entire family instantly, in silent testimony to the national security we currently enjoy under President Bush. Wood gave no indication of noticing this.

i really, sincerely wish id made that up. 

Speaking of gay marriage, as long as liberals are so big on discussing "mandates" and whether Bush has one (they say he does not), I think the one thing we can all agree on is that there is definitely a "mandate" against gay marriage. In fact, a clear majority of us are uncomfortable with the word "mandate" because it sounds like Wayne asking Stephen out for dinner and a movie.

reading crap like this makes me wonder why im even in school.  why am i killing myself studying these heavy tomes of political theory?  why do i force myself to work at my boring computer-arsed job?  i could be making tons of money writing vitriolic nonsense. 

i think its time for me to drop out and become the next ann coulter.

republicans do immoral things too.

i really should be working on term papers, but this really pissed me off.

a letter to the bc catholic, a newspaper about, well, catholic stuff:

Time for change

I don't really see why so many Canadians took issue with Bush and the Republicans in the U.S. when we have scandals like this in Canada:  that Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary should get a visit from the Canada Revenue Agency after taking exception with our Prime Minister's statements on two moral dilemmas of our time i just abominal [sic].

What does this say about "freedom of speech" north of the border?

I am thinking the airing moral issues got in the American election campaign was a lot more "free" time than we get in Canada.

Things had better change!

ok.  i dont think that the ccra went after bishop henry cos of his views on same-sex marriage and abortion - as if the government would perceive a catholic bishop opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage is some kind of rogue that must be silenced at once.  the ccra went after him because he violated the election act by using his position and resources to blanket churches across canada with little pieces of paper that said "paul martin isnt catholic.  good catholics dont vote for paul martin," leaving it up to the reader to insinuate that "hmmm the ndp is like that too, i guess that leaves the conservatives."(i doubt there are many voters who were not aware of the ndp's pro-choice, pro-equal marriage stance).  bishop henry is free to say what he wants, but during an election, canadians think it's good to have limits on how much people can spend defaming particular politicians.

bishop henry gained notoreity by saying he would refuse jean chrétien communion on the basis of his not following the pope, as well as writing a letter urging catholics not to support paul martin because being catholic means being against abortion and same-sex marriage. 

the pope also spoke out against iraq - shouldnt that have been a factor for catholic voters?  should catholic conservatives who supported the war in iraq be similarly denied communion?  why isnt a war a "moral issue"?  bishop henry wrote a piece in the calgary sun about using the klein surplus to help the poor, criticizing punitive policy of the klein government, yet i dont see a big anti-conservative letter being published in time for the alberta vote. 

moreover, bishop henry's insistence that same-sex marriage and abortion are the most important moral issues leaves catholic voters with the sole option of voting for the christian heritage party as stephen harper has never explicitly said his party was definitively pro-life and anti-same sex marriage.  though the liberal committment to same-sex marriage is more obvious, both parties allow mp's to incorporate their personal views, as well as represent the views of their constituents, on these issues. 

in his letters, bishop henry often references st. thomas more "who by his life and death taught that man cannot be separated from God, nor politics from morality"

let's talk about st. augustine: in city of god, st. augustine outlines the spheres of the city of god and the city of man, placing earthly politics in the city of man.  he says the highest morality that can be practiced by non-christians and by christians fulfilling their secular duties of public service is pursuing peace and avoiding war.  all other moral issues are the domain of the churches and christians.  earthly institutions cannot even dream of mirroring the perfection of heaven and the moral perfection of christian teaching because they are staffed by fallible mortals who are not in a position to judge the morality of others. 

its funny how easily christian leaders forget that politicians are ultimately pursuing the secular goal of, yknow, getting elected.  narrowing your message down to two timely issues in the christian faith (abortion/same-sex marriage) ensures a loyal audience that can tangibly and succinctly describe the policy implications of their political preference.  a support base that can remind themselves why theyre with you in ten words or less is a valuable thing indeed. 

stephen harper sells out; tries to be mulroney all over again

have any lotusland politics fans been paying attention to the antics of the new minority parliament, or is our aversion to stress leading us to get our political fix from lighter fare, such as the us election circus and impending hans blix visit to ubc?

harper's behaviour this session has been grossly appalling. while rahim jaffer entertains us, harper is busy endorsing asymmetrical federalism in the form of increased constitutional power for the province of québec. for all the complaints the 'western alienation' faction makes about provinces getting equal rights (commonly manifested in the western pastime of making incoherent allegations that québec is taking all our money), this is a curious stance for harper to take. if he intends on extending all these rights to every province, will canada even be a federation anymore?

given the sheer irrationality of his stance, is there any ideological motivation, or is this just an attempt to pander to anyone who will listen?

maurizio bevilacqua, a casualty of martins george w. bush-like predilection to surround himself with yestards (like yes men, but dumber), is sorely missed in cabinet. kudos to him for the following letter which appeared on warren kinsella's blog .

October 19, 2004

RE: The new political realities of Canada

Dear Mr. Harper,

As a Member of Parliament I swore an oath, as did you, to uphold this great nation of ours. I recall nothing in the oath that would cause me to espouse schemes that are purposefully divisive in their design and dangerous in their deployment. Nor do I recall anything in the oath that would cause me to form alliances with those who actively seek to carve up this great nation. The oath that I took compels me to speak for Canada.

As Parliament opened the nation witnessed you making a deal with the Bloc. This week Canadians watch as you embrace elements of the ADQ's plan to rename Quebec and Parti Quebecois leader Bernard Landry's referendum strategy to unilaterally declare Quebec's independence and then attempt to negotiate terms with Ottawa.

Canadians are left wondering why you, who have spent the past decade fueling the fires of western alienation, are handing Separatists all they desire? Canadians are left wondering what is quid pro quo? What will the west demand from Quebec in return for a Quebec constitution? What is the real end game in this Harper-Landry alliance?

Mr. Harper you talk about the "new Canadian reality" but in truth if you and Mr. Landry continue down this road Canada simply wont be a reality.

Respectfully submitted,

Maurizio Bevilaqua M.P.

randy white loves democracy so much! watch him prove it!

randy white is running for speaker. this isn't motivated by his intimate knowledge and deep love for the rules of canadian debate as outlined by montpetit and marleau, nor is it provoked by a desire to receive dignitaries at kingsmere. it doesn't even have anything to do with a penchant for white gloves and tricorn hats.

randy white is putting his name on the ballot to avoid an acclamation. he fears the newly-implemented free vote selection of the speaker is jeopardized by the fact nobody else is running for the job. naturally, the state of democracy in canada will be bolstered and affirmed by his candidacy!

someone should tell mr white that while appointments are undemocratic, acclamations are not (well, barring conspiratorial behaviour). perhaps he can think of a less superficial way to save canadian democracy, since it means oh so much to him.

harper vs socon canada

he's ba-ack...

though he made himself fairly scarce over the summer, conservative leader stephen harper has returned to our living rooms (and blogs) with some strong words. i cant blame him for desiring time outside the limelight as his party's 99-seat showing likely provoked a time for reckoning. im sure he spent long summer evenings ruminating over the question every leader (save gilles duceppe) ought to have been considering -- where did we go wrong?

as we all witnessed, the martin camp scraped by with the minority by virtue of having convinced canadians that the conservatives are scary social conservatives who will forge a canada we wont recognize. this was manifested most strikingly in the infamous attack ad, launched when liberal geniuses from the land of earnescliffe realized they were losing ground. (curiously, ralph klein also helped bail the liberals out, his anti-medicare noise drowning out anything harper tried to say.)

unfortunately, it worked. a reminder to my fellow canadians: we can't brag to our american friends about our country's rejection of appeals to emotion via negative advertising anymore. but i digress...

harper did two things since emerging from his undisclosed location, which im guessing is the secret headquarters of the canadian branch of the vast right-wing conspiracy. it seems harper is trying to redefine his party in time for the inevitably early return to the polls by dissing the socons and blaming canada for the american response to the mad cow disaster.

social conservatism is a powerful force in western canadian politics -- ask val meredith or russ hiebert -- and a backbone of the party's appeal across the nation. though harper claims he is all for letting the mp's loose in the house, he anticipates running a tighter ship next campaign. a party, harper maintains, is like a team. everyone has to momentarily suppress the wishes of their constituents and their personal philosophy in order to make the leader look more palatable so the team can get ahead. run from the centre, govern from the right.

harper decided to start the political season with a rant on the bse trade issue. the halifax herald coined it best when they asserted a trade dispute involving the usa isnt over until the usa wins, a strategy made possible by all the court-shopping states can do with regards to trade rulings. though harper wants to blame carolyn parrish and bad canada-us relations for the american desire to ban candian beef, that simply isnt a motivating factor in american policymaking. come on, mr harper. the americans are not too concerned with our malicious toronto backbenchers. the canadian cattlemen's association is even siding with martin on this one.

you'll have to do better than this if you want to win canadians over, sir. since you're not too grateful for their insight or support, perhaps a socon purge is in order?