Tuesday, February 27
I'm Too Tired To Even Bother Guesstimating The Number Of Times I've Been Called "Extremist" By A Liberal
Smart. Now Do More. On A Lot Of Topics.
Tuesday, February 20
Bender: "You know, I was God once." God: "Yes, I saw. You were doing well until everybody died."
CPC: 34% (+3%)
Lib: 29% (-8%)
NDP: 14% (n/c)
Green: 12% (5%)
Bloc: 11% (n/c)
(Change is from the Liberal convention polling circa first week of December 2006.)
Lib: 29% (-8%)
NDP: 14% (n/c)
Green: 12% (5%)
Bloc: 11% (n/c)
(Change is from the Liberal convention polling circa first week of December 2006.)
[Link]
What does this tell us?
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First, that the Liberals will be in no rush to go back to the polls, no matter how tough they talk.
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Second, that the Tories aren't yet ready to go, but they are getting closer.
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Jack Layton better hope that there's no one waiting in the wings. (There isn't.)
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If nothing else can happen this year, Jean Charest getting re-elected and the Bloc taking another federal smack circa election-1997, then 2008 will be productive indeed.
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The Greens still don't belong at the debates in their currently accepted format. (And if someone gives me two to one odds on a $25 wager, I'll take the Greens getting zero seats in the election. Think about that....The entire field vs. zero.)
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What does it not tell us?
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That Stephane Dion is dead leader walking. He's painted himself into a corner (far better than the Tory attack ads ever could), but it's ridiculous to assume that it would be impossible to turn it around with three good months. His best bet is to make sure the government does not fall this spring and then go on a summer/fall charm offensive. Regroup for next year Stephane.
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That the Tories' strategy has been working over the last six weeks since the cabinet shuffle. (Doesn't it feel so long ago?)
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Just how many seats the NDP lose. As bad as the numbers are, I can't imagine enough leaking to the Greens or Liberals to really knock them down. A couple in BC may go Tory, but other than that, who knows where the rest go?
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Why I used a Futurama quote as the title of this post. (No reason. I just started typing when it came on Teletoon and I found myself chuckling.)
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What can we assume?
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The budget will pass.
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There will be some Liberal skulduggery as delegates start wondering if Ignatieff or even Rae would have been the better pony.
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That Elizabeth May will continue to build on her momentum. (Right up until it runs out on E-day when the Green vote splits all across the land and no little Greenies get to go to Ottawa. You watch, it'll happen.)
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Gilles Duceppe's replacements will be getting their acts together this year. Who these people are, I have no idea, but they are out there and they will have teams quietly (or not so quietly) put together.
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There will be at least one close call to an election this spring.
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The song "Sayonara" by The Operation M.D. [Link] - a pet project of Sum 41er Cone McCaslin and H2O/Juliette And The Licks' Todd Morse - may be the catchy tune you hear everywhere this spring/summer. Their album hits stores today. I include this only because I just heard the song and damn it's catchy.
Monday, February 19
I'm Being Foolish, Right?
"The average Afghan in Kandahar is doing a little bit better because of the Canadians being there. I firmly believe that."
Lorne Gunter Gets It Right (On Judges)
Odds & Sods
Stephen Brunt has the Nashville Predators moving to Winnipeg. I'm in the "The NHL will return to Winnipeg one day" camp, but I think we're still one more major league crisis away and while the Preds are not long for Music City, I see at least another four or five spots for them to potentially visit first. [Link]
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I think tonight's the night I give up on Studio Sixty On The Sunset Strip and start cheering for the show to disappear so that Aaron Sorkin can start working on a new show and take Mathew Perry, Mark McKinney and Steven Webber with him. (Pick up Josh Charles to tag along while you're at it. I miss that guy!)
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I must say I really enjoy the Manitoba Hydro spot that tells the story of the happy native family who are excited that junior can find technological work in northern Manitoba thanks to Manitoba Hydro. It's a good ad. (Though when I pointed it out to friends yesterday, it drew the most obvious question that Manitoba Hydro ads can draw: "Why does the monopoly need to advertise? I mean, is it supposed to make us go, 'Jee, I think I'll hook up to Hydro today'.")
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With mainly conservative-voting Roblin now a part of the Dauphin-Roblin riding, and the Ranchers Choice slaughter plant project finally being put out to pasture like was predicted two and a half years ago, I find it hard to believe that the Tories can't find someone wanting to run for us there. Seriously, it's not like Stan Struthers' performances should scare anyone. If it wasn't for the three hour commute, hell, I'd run there.
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Pitchers and catchers reported! Pitchers and catchers reported! Opening day is getting closer.
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"Sutherland has 17 previous criminal convictions including five for assault." That should mean that the 18th conviction for his 6th assault for assault - one against a city bus driver just doing his job - should be grounds for at least a full year behind bars, right? Nope. The judge felt eleven months of pre-trial jail time was enough. [Link] Two questions: 1) Wonder who appointed that judge....2) Should we just start a pool on how long goes by before numbers 19 and 7 take place?
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He talks tough Greg [Link], but Charles Adler's read on politics is nothing special and he's more about telling people his "insight" of what's going on yesterday than being able to predict anything meaningful coming tomorrow. After all, Adler's the guy who said Stephen Harper would never be prime minister less than half a year before the PM was sworn in.
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So I was born in 1979 and that makes me born in "The Year Of The Goat"....So how's my Year Of The Pig going to treat me? "Goats born in 1979 should be patient if you have not yet met a suitable partner. Everything will happen in good time." Guess it's all about 2008 now, eh? Yay me! [Link]
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I think tonight's the night I give up on Studio Sixty On The Sunset Strip and start cheering for the show to disappear so that Aaron Sorkin can start working on a new show and take Mathew Perry, Mark McKinney and Steven Webber with him. (Pick up Josh Charles to tag along while you're at it. I miss that guy!)
*
I must say I really enjoy the Manitoba Hydro spot that tells the story of the happy native family who are excited that junior can find technological work in northern Manitoba thanks to Manitoba Hydro. It's a good ad. (Though when I pointed it out to friends yesterday, it drew the most obvious question that Manitoba Hydro ads can draw: "Why does the monopoly need to advertise? I mean, is it supposed to make us go, 'Jee, I think I'll hook up to Hydro today'.")
*
With mainly conservative-voting Roblin now a part of the Dauphin-Roblin riding, and the Ranchers Choice slaughter plant project finally being put out to pasture like was predicted two and a half years ago, I find it hard to believe that the Tories can't find someone wanting to run for us there. Seriously, it's not like Stan Struthers' performances should scare anyone. If it wasn't for the three hour commute, hell, I'd run there.
*
Pitchers and catchers reported! Pitchers and catchers reported! Opening day is getting closer.
*
"Sutherland has 17 previous criminal convictions including five for assault." That should mean that the 18th conviction for his 6th assault for assault - one against a city bus driver just doing his job - should be grounds for at least a full year behind bars, right? Nope. The judge felt eleven months of pre-trial jail time was enough. [Link] Two questions: 1) Wonder who appointed that judge....2) Should we just start a pool on how long goes by before numbers 19 and 7 take place?
*
He talks tough Greg [Link], but Charles Adler's read on politics is nothing special and he's more about telling people his "insight" of what's going on yesterday than being able to predict anything meaningful coming tomorrow. After all, Adler's the guy who said Stephen Harper would never be prime minister less than half a year before the PM was sworn in.
*
So I was born in 1979 and that makes me born in "The Year Of The Goat"....So how's my Year Of The Pig going to treat me? "Goats born in 1979 should be patient if you have not yet met a suitable partner. Everything will happen in good time." Guess it's all about 2008 now, eh? Yay me! [Link]
Saturday, February 17
It Takes A Certain Type Of Hutzpah And Audacity To Compare Afghanistan's Legal System And.....
....The appointment of some conservative-minded people (16 of 33) to the committees that determine whether a lawyer is qualified to serve as a judge.
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Jim Travers shows he's got just that type of extreme judgement towards anyone who dares identify themselves as a conservative thinker. [Link]
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Not one of the so-called rigged appointments has been knocked on qualifications by critics or the media. In fact, NDP MP Pat Martin wrote into the Winnipeg Free Press saying that he felt Pat Haasbeek - the Manitoban who was the focal point of Tuesday's torqued story in the Freep - very well could be qualified because of her length experience on the Prairie Region Parole Board, and that Pat was simply knocking the process.*
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If we want to know why good qualified people have completely turned off of our political systems, this is a good reason why. When your looking at the nomination rosters and find them a little thin of experience and business acumen and such, look no further than this week's ridiculous stories that somehow identifying one's self as a conservative automatically makes them incompetent for doing what they are assigned. (In this case, determining if someone is qualified to be picked as a judge.....After all, these boards don't pick judges themselves.)
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Bob Tarantino gets it a lot better than Jim Travers here. [Link] He explains how the committees work, how the votes are taken, how the lists are presented back to Minister, and how the issue should not be on who is a Tory and who is a Liberal** and what not. This issue is who's qualified to make the decisions?
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And hasn't this episode been telling of the touchiness in the judiciary? I didn't realize that the body was infallible.
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*
*
*
* - I don't know Pat, but her husband is one of Vic Toews' key allies. I was told by people I trust that Pat's credentials alone would justify her appointment and that an argument could be made that she should have been on the board long ago and it was her being a Tory that kept her off the Liberal-appointed boards.
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** - Once again, this story has been absolutely ridiculous. There is literally gobs and gobs of instances where the Liberals were appointing primarily Liberal supporters. Not once did we hear about them setting their agenda. Not once did we hear about them stacking the committees. I don't like railing the media for bias, but the Globe & Mail - who drove the story this week - cannot be defended on this one. They went hard and fast for three days on a story that basically suggested that conservatives are idiots and fools.
*
Because that's what it comes down to.
*
Jim Travers shows he's got just that type of extreme judgement towards anyone who dares identify themselves as a conservative thinker. [Link]
*
Not one of the so-called rigged appointments has been knocked on qualifications by critics or the media. In fact, NDP MP Pat Martin wrote into the Winnipeg Free Press saying that he felt Pat Haasbeek - the Manitoban who was the focal point of Tuesday's torqued story in the Freep - very well could be qualified because of her length experience on the Prairie Region Parole Board, and that Pat was simply knocking the process.*
*
If we want to know why good qualified people have completely turned off of our political systems, this is a good reason why. When your looking at the nomination rosters and find them a little thin of experience and business acumen and such, look no further than this week's ridiculous stories that somehow identifying one's self as a conservative automatically makes them incompetent for doing what they are assigned. (In this case, determining if someone is qualified to be picked as a judge.....After all, these boards don't pick judges themselves.)
*
Bob Tarantino gets it a lot better than Jim Travers here. [Link] He explains how the committees work, how the votes are taken, how the lists are presented back to Minister, and how the issue should not be on who is a Tory and who is a Liberal** and what not. This issue is who's qualified to make the decisions?
*
And hasn't this episode been telling of the touchiness in the judiciary? I didn't realize that the body was infallible.
*
*
*
*
* - I don't know Pat, but her husband is one of Vic Toews' key allies. I was told by people I trust that Pat's credentials alone would justify her appointment and that an argument could be made that she should have been on the board long ago and it was her being a Tory that kept her off the Liberal-appointed boards.
*
** - Once again, this story has been absolutely ridiculous. There is literally gobs and gobs of instances where the Liberals were appointing primarily Liberal supporters. Not once did we hear about them setting their agenda. Not once did we hear about them stacking the committees. I don't like railing the media for bias, but the Globe & Mail - who drove the story this week - cannot be defended on this one. They went hard and fast for three days on a story that basically suggested that conservatives are idiots and fools.
*
Because that's what it comes down to.
Thursday, February 15
Missin' The Archieves...Missin' A Chance To Ego-Inflate
"YOU'LL Find Us."
Anyone who listens to the radio in Winnipeg knows of David Keem. His mattress store ads run on radio several times daily and he always puncuates the spot with a high pitched, "Yoooouuuuu'llllll find us."
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He changes up the ads monthly. Does them himself. And this month's is great.
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He beats the hell out of the stupid stat holiday issue.
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And rightfully so. I still don't have speakers, so I can pull it up transcript, but it's basically along the lines of:
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"It's February. It's cold. People are tired of winter. It's a short month. Tough for businesses to earn rent and payroll and what does the government do? It's a new stat holiday!!!"
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Bravo David. You nail the issue perfectly. "Hey kids, who wants a day off with pay? In fact, screw only one day. Let's take the week off!"
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Wish that wasn't the only PC policy my friends will be asking about this weekend when we get together for a hockey weekend.
*
He changes up the ads monthly. Does them himself. And this month's is great.
*
He beats the hell out of the stupid stat holiday issue.
*
And rightfully so. I still don't have speakers, so I can pull it up transcript, but it's basically along the lines of:
*
"It's February. It's cold. People are tired of winter. It's a short month. Tough for businesses to earn rent and payroll and what does the government do? It's a new stat holiday!!!"
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Bravo David. You nail the issue perfectly. "Hey kids, who wants a day off with pay? In fact, screw only one day. Let's take the week off!"
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Wish that wasn't the only PC policy my friends will be asking about this weekend when we get together for a hockey weekend.
Wednesday, February 14
Take It To The Bank, I Promise Manitobans Will Be In An Election In Seventy Days!
Tuesday, February 13
Back Online
Wednesday, February 7
I disconnected my computer on the weekend to tinker with another problem, and when I reconnected the wireless receiver, the net won't work. I'm sending, but not receiving. While I try to appear to be all smarty-pants in the ways of a computer, I'm pretty useless if I'm not shown how to do something first.
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Since the one roommate who set it up is off hauling goods across North America, it'll be quiet for a few days. This isn't going to be a long break though. He should be back this weekend.
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Since the one roommate who set it up is off hauling goods across North America, it'll be quiet for a few days. This isn't going to be a long break though. He should be back this weekend.
Tuesday, February 6
"We're always trying to lower the number of people working for the civil service." [paraphrased, but fair]
Friday, February 2
Because I'm Stupid...
The Hell You Say!
Dan Lett, with bad news: [Link]
I loved The Freehouse, spent many a dime there, and I'm disappointed to see it go. It was at The Freehouse where I sat drinking beers and first heard people encourage Ryan Matthews to run against David Faurschou. It was at The Freehouse where I heard a perfectly reasonable and plausible plan to oust Stuart Murray as leader (though it wasn't that group that moved ahead with their plans). It was at The Freehouse where I got really drunk the night my staffer days ended.
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Good times, good times. Sad to see her go. However, par for the course in a city where a lost generation of night-life spenders are doing so in Calgary.
Just arrived back in the office after a couple of days under the influence of cold medicine, only to find out that Osborne Village’s trendy bar and eatery - The Freehouse - has closed.
I loved The Freehouse, spent many a dime there, and I'm disappointed to see it go. It was at The Freehouse where I sat drinking beers and first heard people encourage Ryan Matthews to run against David Faurschou. It was at The Freehouse where I heard a perfectly reasonable and plausible plan to oust Stuart Murray as leader (though it wasn't that group that moved ahead with their plans). It was at The Freehouse where I got really drunk the night my staffer days ended.
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Good times, good times. Sad to see her go. However, par for the course in a city where a lost generation of night-life spenders are doing so in Calgary.
Thursday, February 1
Last posts
Links
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