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smacksaw's LiveJournal:
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| Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 | | 3:15 am |
Why the election was good As you may or may not know, Canada had another election which produced a minority Conservative government. I'm going to explain why everything happened as it should have. First, you have to know about the Sponsorship Scandal. If you want to read into it, here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sponsorship_scandalThe long and short of it is this (if you don't want to read it). All throughout Canada you see this "Canada" logo everywhere. The gov't wanted to start branding "Canada" around the nation, but especially in Quebec since they feel they are a nation and not part of Canada. It reminds them "yo, Frenchie, you're in Canada" sort of thing. Really a poke in the eye, especially to PQ and BQ, the nationalist parties in Quebec. Well, the problem is that the Liberals were basically giving money to party loyalists who were not doing jack shit, laundering the money through the ad firms supposed to plaster "Canada" all over Quebec. Considering both of the previous Liberal PMs were from Quebec, it looks pretty suspicious. So in 2006 an election was called and the bumbling Conservatives managed to stop sniping at each other over East v West bullshit and put together a coalition and managed to eek out a minority gov't and put Stephen Harper in charge of the country. Before, Paul Martin was the PM. His crime was being a Liberal during a scandal AND being from Quebec. He was actually quite good as a PM and had nothing to do with the Sponsorship Scandal. But the fact is, the Liberals needed to pay and get tossed out on their ear, which they did. Paul was a casualty. Anyway, fast forward to now. The Conservatives want to run the country like they have a majority. They don't. They thought they could make gains in Quebec to get them to 155 seats and have a majority and simply run the country without opposition. There was gridlock in parliament. Gridlock the Conservatives created by not forming alliances and coalitions. They figured they could call an early election, pick up some seats, get to 155 and do their thing. A Conservative majority is a bad thing. They are not a very sharp party. In fact, for a centre-left party named "Liberals", they have been quite friendly to business and really good at easing the tax burden. It was the conservatives of all people who instituted a federal sales tax. More tax AND federal? That's conservative? You raise taxes AND concentrate the power in Ottawa and away from the provinces? For that and many other reasons, the Conservatives are a pretty incompetent party. So, why did they win? Well, let me explain. Yesterday the Liberals had a bloodbath. They were slaughtered. Guess what they did? For the leader of their party, they trot out a guy named Stephan Dion. From Quebec. Quebec. Home of the Sponsorship Scandal of the Liberals. Wow. Way to distance yourselves from that, Liberals. I'm sure no one will be reminded of the malfeasance in Quebec perpetrated by the Liberals if you nominate YOUR THIRD PARTY LEADER IN A ROW WHO IS FROM QUEBEC!!! Therefore, the Liberals could not be rewarded with a win. And the fact they are decimated is a good thing, because now they can re-invent themselves, which they need to do. As the old quote goes "I must burn the village to save the village." A lot of people lost today, people who need to be purged. It's time to replace them with fresh, new blood. This is going to force the Liberals to move away from the left and fill the middle and middle-right vacuum they left open for the Conservatives. A Liberal comeback is easy. They just need the right leader WHO IS NOT FROM QUEBEC OR ANYWHERE EAST OF MANITOBA!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_GoodalePlease Ralph. Start your French lessons now. If Harper can do it, so can you. I'll have my wife tutor you. Please, please. Now, why is a Conservative win a good thing? Because it's not a Liberal win. They cannot be rewarded for what they've done. A Conservative minority is also a good thing because it is now crystal clear that they do not have a mandate to lead. They cannot do whatever they want. They need to reach across to the other parties and take their concerns into consideration. Canadians want to be more on the right, but not as far right as the Conservatives. Clearly, their platform, ideas and ideals have been rejected at worst, or not embraced fully at best. The next time there is gridlock, Harper cannot take his ball and go home. Now he needs to talk to whoever heads the Liberals, Jack Layton or Gilles Duceppe. He needs to give them something. If he does not mend his ways, I predict that Canadians will be at the polls again in the middle of winter. Again, Conservatives must understand that they do not have a mandate to lead, only to govern. They must work across party lines. This is not a win for the Conservatives. Their ideas have been rejected and they must realise that. I am pleased by this election. It's a win for everyone who voted. | | Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 | | 4:41 am |
Let's look at some pictures:    Now, let's look at these two:   And see what it has in common with this one:  If you haven't figured it out, I'll explain, and it's why I don't support the Green and neither should any Canadian who loves their country. The first set of logos all have something in common. They have the symbol of Canada and her flag, the maple leaf. The next two are the current and previous Green logo. No maple leaf. And before, you'll notice no mention of the word "Canada", either. Then we have Bloc Quebecois. A party that is totally un-Canadian. They are for Quebec. The nation of Quebec. So, if you are for Canada, wouldn't you put things that remind you of Canada on your branding? And if you want to distance yourself from Canada, wouldn't you try to avoid it? Right now on the Liberals website, there is a Canadian flag: http://www.liberal.ca/default_e.aspxAnd on the Conservatives as well: http://www.conservative.ca/They are at least thinking about the symbolism of Canada. Now, here's another interesting logo:  That's the Green party of the USA. Hmm, no American flag there, either. Well, let's look at the blog of a Canadian Green running for MP: http://www.greenparty.ca/en/node/3503"Pictured below are Jim Harris, Melanie Mullen & Michael Feinstein the former Mayor of Santa Monica, California and a US Green Party Member, two days after the Ontario provincial election."   Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others! Imagine if Dianne Feinstein was campaigning for Jack Layton. Actually, he'd never let that happen, because he wants Canada to be sovereign and extricated from the US and other foreign influences. Yet these Greens seem quite cozy. Well, it turns out their world organisation is keeping score on elections in 72 different countries: http://www.globalgreens.org/electionsHow would you feel as a Canadian if some sort of worldwide website was organising the Conservatives and Republicans together and putting them under a common mission statement? Would you think that is usurping your sovereignty as a Canadian? Read the Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_GreensTalk about a New World Order! I think it's pretty simple. If you think that other nations should define the common goals (read, what's best for you, Canada), then by all means vote for the Greens. But if you think that you are getting screwed in trade deals, internationally, etc. and that the UN is something that belongs to everyone and you don't belong to it, don't vote Green. It's shameless how they don't even try to hide the fact that Global Greens comes first. You don't like the USA telling you what to do. Why would you let a conference of Greens in Australia or New Zealand decide policy for you? What happens when there's a Green gov't in Canada and one in Denmark and there's an argument over fishing rights? Can you trust they would fight for or even decide in Canada's best interest? Canada is best when Canada looks out for Canada first. And if you are a Canadian, it is your duty as such to support your nation above all others and all else. If you really care about the environment, vote NDP and Jack Layton. To vote Green, well...you might as well vote Bloc Quebecois. | | 3:52 am |
| | Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 | | 12:08 am |
Sarah Palin: Palling Around With Secessionists (NEW VIDEO) If Sarah Palin wasn't a secessionist, then why was she palling around with them? New video exposing Sarah Palin's ties to the Alaska Independence Party from jedreport.com read more | digg story | | Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 | | 3:44 am |
Calling all hockey and music fans I was kinda flipping channels last night, having a hockey withdrawal when I noticed CBC was showing the Hockey Night In Canada Anthem Challenge and I had to tune it in, because I thought "what in the hell are they doing to the anthem?" The HNIC anthem is probably one of the greatest anthems in sport and is like the bell for Pavlov's dog as far as Canadians are concerned. You could play the first note of this anywhere in public in Canada and everyone would look up and go "Is hockey on? Is it Saturday? Where's the TV?" Canadians like to trick foreigners into thinking it's the national anthem. It's that popular. Anyway, here's a classic take on it from YouTube: So basically what happened is TSN (ESPN Canada) bought the rights to the song, leaving the CBC in the lurch with no more theme song. Making lemons into lemonade, they came up with a contest to get a new one. Which brings us to this: http://anthemchallenge.cbc.ca/Right now, there's 5 songs up there in the semi-finals. Voting ends today. It gets pared down to 2 songs after today. They got a bunch of people to submit songs and had legendary producer Bob Rock clean them up and they set them to the intro video. Check them out and vote (ignore the Bell adverts...yuck)! ( My picks are behind the cut, as to not influence anyone before picking ) | | 2:57 am |
Yoshi update
I often think that babies are often bored. That we underestimate them. Even the things I learned in college about child development, I'm not sure that they're right as much simply agreed upon. I had a headstart with kids as I took child development before I had kids, but I still think it wasn't enough. I feel guilty because I think there are lots of signs we miss out on when it comes to kids.
Anyway, here are some things/milestones about Yoshi for posterity or whatever.
I always kissed/kiss my kids. Imagine making a "pop" with your mouth, where your mouth is closed and you open it. I've learned if you kiss a baby like that, they won't lick you. They open their mouth a bit and keep their tongue in. It changes their reflex to explore with their tongue. That way you can give the baby a kiss and not have spit, licking, etc. After awhile, they learn how to do it back. I never really paid attention until Yoshi, but he figured out how to do it at 3 months. He's going to be 6 months in 10 days. I come in and "muah" and duck out, come in again "muah" and I do it over and over.
Well, he can sit up now. Past few days he can do it without falling. Tonight, he was sitting in front of me, face to face. Leans in, kisses me. Leans back, looks at me. Leans in, kisses me. Leans out, looks at me. He did it for about 3 minutes...keeping his balance no less. Bouncing off of me to give me kisses. Before I would discount that stuff. The age is too young. Now I don't. I think this sort of thing dies because it's not encouraged. I think babies are radically smarter than we give them credit for.
Another thing is that I tried to teach him sign language. I use the "hand to mouth" sign for food. When I ask if he's hungry, I do the sign. If he's hungry, he sticks his tongue out. He knows. When he wants to be picked up he puts his hand on his face and strokes it with his fingers...because I draw on his face with my hand.
The last thing is the most impossible to believe and makes me feel the most guilty. Everything I know says that a baby doesn't know names. They barely know faces, let alone object permanence at that age. But there is no doubt that Yoshi says "dada" and that he means ME. My other kids said it and I discounted it as babbling. But maybe it wasn't. He calls out screaming "dadadadadadada" and if I appear, he smiles and stops. He touches his face to get picked up. He says "dadadada" and makes a purring noise, like Jerry from Boston Legal. Motorboating? I figure he learned it from Shingen saying "dada" and noticed.
I'm glad for Yoshi. I'm glad he's getting stimulated. But I wonder if we leave babies in a crib or whatever for hours on end and they're just bored, helpless to let us know that we had brief, luminous opportunities to educate them and run with it. All I know is that Yoshi knows me and knows how to get me by calling my name and that's not even remotely close to appropriate for his age. | | Monday, October 6th, 2008 | | 11:04 pm |
| | 7:59 am |
This is the kind of man Barack Obama is... An amazing true story of how Obama helped a complete stranger. read more | digg story | | Saturday, October 4th, 2008 | | 12:39 pm |
High Fructose Sweet Surprise Commercial study? PEPSI FUNDED Surprise, surprise read more | digg story | | 12:35 pm |
End the mystery of the orgasm We know how guys get off, but we should act on what else we know, the female climax takes effort read more | digg story | | Friday, October 3rd, 2008 | | 1:14 am |
Lie detector? Better! The "Believability Meter" VP debate. A handy little bar tells you when Palin or Biden are lying! read more | digg story | | Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | | 12:21 am |
America's 10 Best Burgers A list of the most mouthwatering burgers in the United States read more | digg story | | Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 | | 11:11 am |
| | Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 | | 2:17 am |
Instant Heart Attack (pic) I guess it's bad for you for a reason other than what it is telling you not to eat it. read more | digg story | | Sunday, September 28th, 2008 | | 12:34 pm |
| | Friday, September 26th, 2008 | | 3:58 am |
TV
Grey's Anatomy is by far the worst show on TV.
I can't escape it. Everyone in my house watches it. It's like the greatest unintentional comedy ever.
Yang gets impaled. By an icicle. You got to admit, that's funny shit. You can't make that up. Well, unless you're like 5 or a writer for Grey's Anatomy.
Then I saw the preview for next week. Water leakage in Seattle Grace. Water will flood into the operating room, giving some unlucky patient an open-stomach colon cleansing via the ceiling.
Again, I can't make this shit up.
"Cristina's icicle is back, and it's brought friends! Next week on Grey's Anatomy. You'll watch anything. We're ABC."
So instead of FROZEN water going into someone's abdomen, next week we're going to have FLOWING water go into someone's abdomen. And wait - let me guess - the week after that, someone will accidentally stick a Rug Doctor in their bellybutton.
And Izzie. Can't she just fucking die already and go be with Denny?
OH! And Derek's old GF with the "I'm pregnant" shit. I knew that was going to be some bullshit teaser crap. You know how they now film totally ridiculous scenes just for the commercial teasers? And she's all "oh, I'm kidding. PS Derek, I also shot JR."
Fuck this show. Fuck it right in the ear. All they needed to do was focus on compelling medical issues based in reality and let the personal relationships evolve from there. Now, a bunch of people who are so stupid I just want to kill them all are competing with Scooby Doo scripts for outrageous bullshit.
Also, fuck Lipstick Jungle. Ladies - network TV is rolling back a century of progress. | | Thursday, September 25th, 2008 | | 5:28 am |
| | 5:18 am |
| | 5:16 am |
| | Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 | | 10:59 pm |
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