January 31, 2006
The Energizer Shaidle
Case in point: a few days ago I got linked from SmallDeadAnimals and The Daily Cougar*. Hit count: SDA, +900; Zerb, 17.The only people reading newspaper blogs are careerist kiss-asses who want to get noticed by the Big Time Writer. Little birds on the elephant's back. Those blogs won't last.
Overheard On Board A Delayed Air Canada Flight
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"Good morning, and welcome aboard Air Canada flight 354. We apologize for the delay. Marnie, the Chief Flight Attendant. has informed us that she and Bonnie are nearly finished repairs to the engines and we should be departing shortly. Please be patient as our Captain finishes serving your complimentary drinks. Thankyou." |
The Rental Building Next Door
Greg Staples has done an admirable job, using very pretty graphs, in plotting population density with voter preference, in response to the debate about Tory urban/rural support.
It reminds me of a piece written (in 1992) by Thomas Sowell;
There is a story. . .that the French police were chasing a criminal who fled into a building in Paris. Their first thought was that they would surround the building. But then they realized that the building was so large, and had so many exits, that they didn’t have enough policemen on the scene to do that. So they surrounded the building next door, which was smaller and had fewer exits.Much of the academic research in the social sciences follows exactly this pattern of reasoning.
Often we don’t have information on the variables that matter, so we surround other variables, using statistics that the Census Bureau, or the Congressional Budget Office, or someone else has supplied to us. Last year, for example, both the media and the politicians seized upon statistics which showed that blacks received less prenatal care, and had higher infant mortality rates, than whites. The obvious answer was more government spending on prenatal care. Yet the very same study showed that Mexican Americans received even less prenatal care than blacks and had slightly lower infant mortality rates than whites.
Prenatal care was the building next door.
The inference that is most commonly drawn from correlations that show a rise in support for the liberal-left in high population density areas, is that somehow, when you have many people living together in close quarters, they become more tolerant and "progressive" in their societal views. This was certainly one of the media themes during the election campaign - that "progressive" urban Canadians were not receptive to the social conservativism associated with the "rural western based" Harper Conservatives.
Yet, even the most stubborn adherent of this theory will admit that in the densely populated, low-income immigrant communities, issues like same-sex marriage and abortion on demand don't get much traction - if anything, some of our imported "cultural communities" are so dangerously homophobic and misogynistic that they make any caricature of "western rednecks" pale by comparison.
Is population density just the "building next door" ?
For there is another correlation that exists in communities of high population density - and that is the inverse ratio in home ownership. By and large, those who dwell in urban, high-rise zoning don't collect much more than furniture. Many aren't even responsible for basic chores involving maintainance and upkeep - they just call someone.
And for further evidence that rate of property ownership is a more reliable indicator of likely conservative support than population density, one only needs to consider the most obvious exception to the rule; the sparcely populated, highly rural First Nations reserves where support for the Liberals is virtually unanimous.
When one moves into the suburbs and rural areas, however, the reverse is true - the average voter is more likely to own their own home and/or business. They gain first hand experience with the actual costs and consequences of intrusive "tax and spend" nannystate government policies so popular with the urban left. Home owners feel the direct impact in rising property taxes, and dimished private sector investment. They're also far more sensitive to issues of crime and punishment, for they see rising crime rates reflected in lowered property values, and increased costs in security.
So, as Sowell suggests - lacking information on the many variables that do matter, perhaps the media and punditry have chosen instead to surround the ones that don't.
(If you didn't already click on the link provided - Sowell's piece is a must read)
Reader Tips
It didn't take long for Michaelle Jean to pick up where Queen Adrienne left off.
When punditry were speculating post election that Harper would wait several months before doing anything substantive in government,it was a sign that they don't know very much about Harper. Or Albertans. Or Western Canadian conservatives, for that matter.
(Which should come as no surprise - I understand that over the weekend Jane Taber inadvertantly revealed on National TV she hadn't actually read the Conservative Party platform. Journalism. In Canada.).
Damian Brooks offers good advice on the MCpl Franklin VC medal debate.
My thoughts on this orgy of Hollywood self congratulation? - if you want to know how culturally significant Brokeback is, try counting the number of cowboys in the theatre seats.
Fraud charges are laid in the DND computer billing scam.
Iran announces the end of diplomacy over their nuclear weapons program. Cool. Let's just get this one over with.
Drop your own in the comments.
Saskblogs
A new blog aggregator. Looks like darned near everybody is already on it, and then some!
Also - the Saskdesk news aggregator is back in business.
January 30, 2006
The Take Back America From Jesusland Movement
... looks to be suffering a few setbacks.
Bush's approval ratings have climbed back to 50%, the Dem's attempt to mount an Alito fillibuster has just failed (in a cloture motion of 72-25), and now Hillary Commander In Chief has been cancelled!
As reaction from the grassroots begins to roll in, reader Meg writes;
Between this and Cindy Sheehan's senate campaign, the fun's only starting, I'm sure.
You know, as good as Rabble.ca is, we really do have to get off our rear ends and get KosKanada launched - so the tolerant Canadian left can find its voice and help keep the True North safe from our neo-Can Busharper Rethuglican agenda!
(I actually like the sound of that - the "Harper Neo-Cans". Remember you heard it here first!)
Tales From Inside The Belly
And some people still think we were joking when we called them the Libranos; (link fixed)
It was only when we got to Windsor for the convention that I realized just how much the Martinites had invested in the campaign -- literally. With the money I'd scraped together, I'd rented a couple of cheap yellow school buses to transport my supporters. My opponent's voters turned up in a fleet of Greyhounds. The bulk of them rounded up from a couple of high schools, they had everything -- food, board, delegate fees, liquor -- paid for. Some of the kids were informed they wouldn't get a ride back to Toronto if they didn't vote the right way.Not surprisingly, I lost. But I'd come close enough to winning that the Martinites were convinced I had another leadership campaign running the show. And from that point, they made a concerted effort to ensure I had a minimal role in the party.
How times have changed.... "There are certain jobs, it seems, that no one, but no one, wants to have..."
More on McKenna, from Coyne.
In the comments - "Orchard delivering the leadership to Belinda on the last ballot to stave off Scott". I'd pay good money to see that!
Yeeeaaaarrrrgh!
Karl Rove has agents everywhere;
Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are privately bristling over Howard Dean’s management of the Democratic National Committee and have made those sentiments clear after new fundraising numbers showed he has spent nearly all the committee’s cash and has little left to support their efforts to gain seats this cycle, ROLL CALL reports.Congressional leaders were furious last week when they learned the DNC has just $5.5 million in the bank, compared to the Republican National Committee’s $34 million.
And to think that one of Howard Dean's assets in his quest for the Democratic nomination was a proven track record of fiscal responsibility and 11 straight balanced budgets in his home state of Vermont.
Razing The Rez
The main problem with Indian reservations isn't, as some argue, that they were established on worthless tracts of grassland. Consider the case of Buffalo County, S.D., which Census data reveal to be America's poorest county. Some 2,000 people live there. More than 30% of the homes are headed by women without husbands. The median household income is less than $13,000. The unemployment rate is sky high.Just to the east of Buffalo County lies Jerauld County, which is similar in size and population. Yet only 6% of its homes are headed by women without husbands, the median household income is more than $30,000, and the unemployment rate hovers around 3%. The fundamental difference between these two counties is that the Crow Creek Indian Reservation occupies much of Buffalo County. The place is a pocket of poverty in a land of plenty.
Read the whole thing.
"With Astonishement!"
A reader from Quebec writes;
Duceppe has ordered a study to (attempt to) explain why Quebec city dwellers did not buy his lies. He talks of a "Quebec mystery". Then, this jaw-dropper from his mouth: "Il y a quelque chose à Québec qui n'a pas encore été exorcisé et le mouvement souverainiste dans son ensemble devra se questionner " (my translation: "There is something in Quebec City that has not been exorcized, and the sovereignist mouvement as a whole will have to question itself")An editorialist at La Presse (usually a federalist newspaper from Montreal) starts his article like this: "The election of seven Conservative MPs in the Quebec City region is a surprise. Montrealers are pinching themselves as they look - with astonishement - what is going on in their capital. And the medias have sent special envoys and questionned specialists at Laval University, a bit like it is done when a city is suddenly struck by a tsunami or a hurricane." He then explain there is no mystery. Quebec residents are public servants, familiar with how governments work, and are tired of seeing the liberals and the bloc neglect their region for more than 10 years.
They have also elected a lean and mean, financially conservative mayor, Andree Boucher, a move the big media has yet to digest and explain.
It reminds me of the puzzlement of the US leftists after Bush's re-election.
La Presse article (in French).
Tech Notes
Last evening Lance Levsen set me up with a new Debian box. My old computer (running Suse 7.0) was still going strong after 6 years (it's never turned off) and we actually incorporated the old hard-drive into the new machine, but it wasn't possible to upgrade it to do some of the functions I needed - like burning cd's.
There are a few tasks and glitches left - like installing Opera (ugh, I don't like Firefox at all) and getting my Wacom CT-0405-R tablet to work properly - and I have to learn my way around the distro, so blogging may be light for a few days as I concentrate on that.
You can use the comments section for reader tips and whatnot.
January 29, 2006
Mine Fire In Esterhazy
Just over local news, there has been a fire in one of the underground potash mines near Esterhazy, SK. Initial report is that all miners are accounted for and OK, and they're currently working to get them out. They have 36 hours of air and water.
Update: It was a transformer fire. All miners are in "safe zones" and a rescue team is already underground.
11:30 pm local time update via local radio: 70 workers still underground, but they're still safe. The fire (which started at 3am) is still burning, and there are 7 rescue teams underground (they're being rotated). The Rawlco Radio reporter on the scene says that officials are confident that this will be "a good news story".
Morning update: All are safe.
The Attack Of The "Netroots" Activists
[T]he DLC was formed twenty years ago in an attempt to drag the party to the center. How's it going? I would guess that blogs and the internet have made the unelectable left even better organized and harder to work around; the days when a candidate could tell Barbra Streisand what she wanted to hear, pocket her check, then tell the public something that made sense are long over.
And here's an example - Democratic lobbyist and Kerry campaign advisor Steve Elmendorf...
"The trick will be to harness their energy and their money without looking like you are a captive of the activist left."
.... meets Markos Moulitsas of the DailyKos ;
"Here's notice, any Democrat associated with Elmendorf will be outed. The netroots can then decide for itself whether it wants to provide some of that energy and money to that candidate."
Which brings me to this;
Look at me.* I'm pro-choice. I support gay marriage. I think porn is OK and that drugs (which aren't OK) ought to be legal. My tastes in music and movies and entertainers are a lot more New York and LA than they are Nashville or Branson.But with the exceptions of maybe Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman, there's not a Democrat today I'd vote for without first chewing through my own forehead.
Now, what was I telling you? All together, now - God Bless Canada!
Another case in point
How To Make An Idiot Of Yourself On The Internet
A piece by James Lileks that specifically mentions most of my critics!
Running Roughshod Over Leftist Issues
Oddly enough, I first took that to be a compliment;
Two bloggers who need to be challenged, factually, consistently and relentlessly: Small Dead Animals and Angry in the Great White North. They've already gotten the attention of the mainstream media and they are doing real, material damage to public discourse when it comes to leftist issues.If Babble can't deal with these two turd-blogs, then Babble is of no use whatsoever.
To which I can only respond - what's a "Babble"?
January 28, 2006
It's Been Nearly A Week
Since I've offended someone...
Sgt. Torn: Drop the gun! Drop it! Drop it!Ahmed(in un-subtitled Arabic):Muhaia, dirka muhaia! Jihad allah dirka fatwa…..jihad…. (slowly trails off)
Their eyes lock in a longing stare as both slowly lower their rifles.
Notice: there was a server changeover last night at my host, and I not only lost a few newer posts, I couldn't access this comments thread until this morning. Apparently, there are a few people who still get sucked into feeding the trolls. I'll deal with him, but in the meantime - just stop responding. Thankyou.
Reader Tips
(link fixed) Usurping the left. My entry: Wheezy McFascistInstitute
Unsubsidized biofuels - a one day seminar hosted by the Frontier Center for Public Policy Info here.
Black Rod; "We thought we had seen the last of the Me-Me-Me School of Politics with the passing of Glen Murray. How wrong we were."
The Islamic Congress of Canada's Mohammed Elmasry is unhappy with Harper's stance on the Palestinian elections. It's a start!
The further left a province leans, the more spoiled ballots they turn in.
Requiem for a retiring Saskatchewan politician;
Good Luck Joanne, have fun with the four hours after business hours dealing with the paper work in this province. Also, better make it a store-front, not a home business, or you won't qualify for your "lowest utilities" rebate. Oh, and don't shop around for lowest prices for natural gas, because the Province won't give you a provincial rebate on energy costs unless you do business with the Crown Corp.
Leave your own in the comments, or send a trackback.
The Urban Rural Dichotomy
Lorne Gunter points to media chatter about the number one problem facing Conservatives electorally - the Liberal domination of the nation's cities;
The morning after the vote, the CBC reported "Results of Canada's 39th general election reveal an urban-rural divide in voting patterns."Canadian Press divined a "a stubborn urban-rural divide" developing in Canadian politics. And the Globe and Mail insisted Monday's balloting "suggested an urban-rural split, with the Conservatives making inroads in much of the country, but being shut out of Canada's three biggest centres, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver."
It's a development drawing the attention of those in halls of higher learning.
David Docherty, a Wilfrid Laurier University political scientist, examining the outcome in Ontario claimed "We're seeing more of an urban- rural split in the province. The larger cities are staying Liberal and the rural areas are Conservative."
When there is such a deep cultural divide and growing gap between "values" held by rural folk and those of modern urbane Canadians...
with such disparity between the relative levels of education ...
and sophistication in business, science and technology ...
... how does a political party most closely identified with those of that certain rural social and economic class find ways to broaden their tent widely enough to resonate with the people of "progressive" metropolitan Canada?
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(Read the rest of Gunter's piece here.)
January 27, 2006
Burning Down The House
First, it's the CBC admission of a "Heil Harper" cut and paste "error", and now this;
Full screencap here.
Desnethe - Missinippi - Churchill River
Further to the Desnethe - Missinippi - Churchill River election story, more details are coming in. John Gormley LIve is doing more on this at the moment, if you want to listen on streaming audio. I've received information privately, as well - it's worth noting that both the NDP and Conservative campaigns have recieved complaints.
:
For example, the poll in question from the Ahtahkakoop reserve came in 3 hours late, and in addition to around 380 voters who were on the voters list, another 240 people were sworn in.
Update - Conservative candidate Jeremy Harrison appeared later in the day with CKOM host David Kirton. They have collected a number of affadavits and it sounds as though the complaint and request for an investigation is going ahead. Furthermore, the chief of Ahtahkakoop, Larry Ahenikew, has reportedly acknowledged on camera that a television set was raffled during the election - a violation of the Elections Act. Although Ahenikew issued a news release a couple of days ago, attempts by media to contact him since have proven fruitless.
How We Got Here
Mulroney won the West with Free Trade, and Quebec with Meech. What he hoped was that no matter how much the West, particularly Alberta, despised Meech and what would today be called asymmetrical federalism, it would go along. The trick to governing Canada, he believed, was to keep Quebec happy, Ontario satisfied and the West just a few degrees below simmering. Quebec wanted what it wanted, Ontario wanted to know that the nation's affairs were being looked to, lest crisis disrupt the economic engine of the Golden Horseshoe, and West could be left with crumbs because they had no where else to turn. This is a strategy inherent in all political coalitions: You betray your base so you can reach out to a swing grouping. The hope is that your base doesn't walk away. Mulroney calculated that the West wouldn't walk. He was wrong.Read it all
(A pretty good piece on the so-called urban/rural electoral divide here, too - for a guy who doesn't have a driver's license. Public transit? Egads.)
71
A little sports news for you Saskatchewan expats - Bobby Jurasin is going to the CFL Hall of Fame.
(Surprisingly, photos of Jurasin seem nearly non-existant on the net. If anyone has one to pass along from his Rider days, I'd appreciate that.)
January 26, 2006
A Dangerous Time For America To Be Divided
Hamas may have won the Palestinian elections, which may in turn make Benjamin Netanyahu the next Prime Minister of Israel. CNN is now reporting that the current Palestinian government has resigned. The election of Hamas taken together with the crisis in Iran suggests that that the world is being challenged by very deeply rooted forces which traditional international institutions may be incapable of handling. The way to safety hangs on events that haven't resolved themselves yet. Whether the policy of democraticization has blunted the rush to madness -- Egyptian blogger the Big Pharaoah thinks Middle East democracy boosts Islamists; whether Iran will acquire the bomb; whether Israel will draw its sword to prevent it; whether Syria's ruling dynasty will fall; whether Europe will break out of its demographic death-spiral. Because success relies so much on the exploitation of contingent events it's a dangerous time for America to be divided, with one side unsure of whether any real danger besides BushchimpHitler exists and the other in the grip of a half-articulated policy; both almost fatalistically slouching towards a
future where there are no certain or even probable endings.
Just beneath the surface of many self-described Canadian "progressives", (not to mention a few of those new "metropolitan" opposition MP's) runs a strong and virulent anti-Israeli current.
That surface is about to be scratched. Watch what happens.
Gore On Harper
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Watching the reaction from some in the "progressive" camp over Harper's habit of closing his speeches with "God Bless Canada", my suggestion to our incoming Prime MInister is this: Faster, Please.
The greater part of the success of the Bush administration's ability to win elections lies, not in the electoral support of the so-called "religious right" (which is more media mythology than reality) , but in their ability to provoke the "loony left" to come unhinged in front of ordinary Americans.
When a conservative invokes God, no matter how generically, the left cannot help but expose their seething intolerance of all things Christian - thus, shining a spotlight on the highly selective nature of the "diversity" they champion.
The Paul Martin Liberals started well down this path during the last election campaign, the last few days illustrated by the bizarre behavior and "warnings" (abortion! child labour!) erupting from the leader himself. What Conservatives can do now is to quietly keep pushing them along on that path. With a little luck, and the inevitable cheerleading from media, a few more "God Bless"'s might just encourage the type of Harper "Derangement Syndrome" from "progressives" that helps keep US Democrats out of office.
See above.
Addendum:
Fact Checking the Calgary Herald:
Gore warned that Harper wants to remove Canada from the Kyoto accord, which the United States signed under former president Bill Clinton, but has refused to ratify under President George W. Bush.
False. Clinton signed Kyoto, knowing full well that it would be rejected by the Senate - which they did, voting against it unanimously - 3 full years before Bush came into office.
See also: Who knew Beausejour was in Texas?
Green Canuck to Gore: "Right on, dude!"
Lost In Translation: Update
The strange goings on in Federal government contracting continue. In followup to last week's post (read it if you haven't already), my source sends this update;
Sequle: Well on the morning of 25 Janaury 2006, bidders sent an inquiry to their PWGSC Contract Authority - remember our bid validity expired today - and received a fax later this afternoon stating that Societé Gamma (a private Ottawa firm) had been awarded $3.6 million to provide translation services for Treasury Board Secretariat. Apparently PWGSC still cannot discuss this matter with bidders and of course no one knows if this is an additional contract or if Lexi-tech International (owned by JD Irving) still gets to keep the original $3.6 million they were awarded in late December 2005. What to do, what to do?And since this is a sequel, anyone having access to MERX should go to the Contract Awards link and view how many contracts were awarded on 23 January 2006 - The Immigration and Refugee Board posted contract awards for several translation contracts on that date (impeccable timing, ey wot?) - and this after the Project Authority at IRB had promised bidders on a weekly basis starting with the first week of December that results would be posted before Christmas. Then she didn't respond to e-mails or phone calls either. And on election day, VOILA - results released.
Whatever are these people trying to hide? And are public servants allowed to lie or is that common human failing only something us common folk are held accountable for? Just asking. And of course documentation, mounds of it actually, exists for anyone who can help disseminate this.
Think of all the other millions of dollars awarded on 23 Janaury - this is just the tip of the heap of dead fish..
This is something the incoming government has to take a hard look at. If there is evidence that contracts were pushed through on behalf of favoured companies in anticipation of a government defeat, resignations and firings are in order.
On the other hand, perhaps this suggestion may work as well.
Diane Francis
I don't know how I missed this, but Diane Francis has a blog up. Her latest entry is a report from Davos;
But every year, the panelists mostly incorrect and last year was no exception. The majority view back then was that the U.S. would come unstuck in 2005 due to overspending and the dollar would plummet. Instead, the U.S. dollar went up in value and its economy grew nicely.The only exception to last year's bearishness was Jacob Frenkel, vice chairman of insurance giant AIG and former head of Israel's central bank.
"The dire predictions didn't materialize which is a reflection of the robustness of the U.S. economy," he said. "It's capable of absorbing enormous shocks."
U.S. trade deficits are happily financed by Japanese, Chinese and other Asian countries with trade surpluses and they are not about to pull the plug.
"The U.S. overspends and Asia over-saves," he said. "The U.S. dollar is not going to collapse. Where else will investors go? Japan holds US$1 trillion of U.S. debt and China US$500 billion. The more you are invested in an asset like this, the more vulnerable you are to collapses so you are reluctant to let that happen."
January 25, 2006
"50 Liberal MPs Per Square Inch"
Monte Solberg is dazzled by the lights of the Big City Waterfront;
If only we could have been as successful as the Liberals. I mean they won seats where it really counts. What I would give to have come second like my Liberal friends. You see its not the quantity of seats, its the quality.Sure its nice to win seats in places like Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg or Quebec City. Its even okay I guess to win every seat in Alberta, but if you aren't in TO and Van and Montreal what's the point?
But then it occured to me. We don't have to do anything for the big three. You see they have had ALL Liberal representation for the last twelve years so they don't have any problems.
heh heh heh heh heh.....
Consensus
Something I heard over radio a few days ago about "voodoo economics" brought to mind this short exerpt of an article by L. Brent Bozell III, written in 1994. I decided to dig it up and republish it here, because it's good, because I feel like it, and because - as I wrote on Monday - some things never change.
In the 1980s, there was a consensus among the members of the national media that Ronald Reagan was going to fail and that he was going to bring on economic disaster. But. . .the economy didn't collapse. In fact, it soared to unprecedented levels.The media stubbornly refused to admit that "Reaganomics" was responsible. The drumbeat of negative opposition to the president's policies continued through the 1980s. By 1986. . . the ratio of negative to positive stories was seven to one. In other words, as the economy was improving, media reports on the economy were becoming increasingly negative.
One of the most common allegations in these reports was that the poor got poorer under Reagan, even though the actual number of poor declined from 14 to 13 percent during his administration, and the average income for the lowest one-fifth of Americans rose from $7,008 to $9,431. Inflation declined 48%, from 8.9 to 4.6%. Unemployment declined 45%, from 7.5 to 5.2.%. Interest rates declined 71.9%, from 21 to 5.9%. Twenty-one million new jobs were created.
The so-called "greedy '80s" witnessed the largest peacetime economic expansion in our nation's history, yet the media remained deaf, dumb and blind.
From "30 years of the Best Of Imprimis".
One can subscribe to the invaluable Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College for free. (There's a link off the main page). Hillsdale College was founded by Freewill Baptists in Spring Arbor, Michigan and became the first institution of its kind to prohibit in its charter all discrimination based on race, religion, or sex - in 1850.
What A Difference A Day Makes
Less than 48 hours have passed; Bush has called, Rock's days are numbered, McKenna makes way for Preston , and we're already handing out guns!
Don't choke on that latte.
Is There A More Ridiculous Choice Than Stockwell Day?
I've used the term "journalistic malpractice" on occasion to describe the type of superficial and politically tainted media coverage Canadians have been subjected to. There is no better example of this than recent smears against Stockwell Day.
This is the same press that has been covering Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew. You'd think that the irony might have smacked them upside the head by now.
Whether he becomes Canada's foreign minister is up to Stephen Harper. But whether he deserves respect for his efforts and degree of knowledge in the field is not a call we should allow the Peter Mansbridge's of the world to make for us.
China E-Lobby argues the case well;
Mr. Harper and his fellow Conservatives should not merely given Mr. Day the portfolio simply because a bunch of Americans and Chinese exiles want it. Mr. Day should receive the post because he is the most qualified person for the job, and not only because he has served so well as Foreign Affairs critic for nearly four years.Canada has always prided itself, and not without reason, as the conscience of the free world. In recent years, as Jean Chretien and Paul Martin repeatedly embarrassed themselves (to say nothing of their fellow Canadians) in their dealings with Communist China, that role has been lost. Stockwell Day's appointment, all by itself, would put the tyrannies of the world on notice that Canada's new government will no longer look the other way on human rights and security threats to the democratic world. Days' appointment would bring immense hope not only to the long-suffering Chinese people, but also to many others who suffer under tyranny in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and even parts of Europe.
I understand that the "politically safe" move would be to appoint someone else to the Foreign Ministry, but that is due to how (some) Canadians see Mr. Day, not how we see him from outside Canada. The Foreign Minister represents Canada to the globe, and the globe knows - and admires - Stockwell Day a great deal.
And to that I'll add - I think Canadians can also rest assured that Day wouldn't be splitting his time between his office, a Paris apartment and Bruno the Bodyguard..
(See: Future of Communism in China)
Hugh Hewitt
Canadian media and aspiring journalists take note: this is what a good interview looks like.
Reader Tips
Truth is stranger than ..oh nevermind. It's Michael Jackson;
Pop star Michael Jackson took a shopping trip to a Bahrain mall Wednesday, covering himself in a black abaya robe traditionally worn by Bahraini women and a veil hiding his face, along with three children _ apparently his _ with their faces covered with dark scarves. [...] He was wearing an abaya, a robe with long sleeves, under which his pants, white shirt and men's shoes could be seen, and his head and face were wrapped in a black veil. He had black gloves on his hands.
Let the Americans do it! Border security in Canada - brought to you by the same people who've been running our national defense.
William Norton, Deputy Chairman, London North East Area Conservatives left a kind post-election note in the comments - they have Canadian election analysis up on their blog
Tim Denton is right on the money with this one;
The emergence of Michael Ignatieff is nothing but good; he will put a few new ideas into Liberal heads. By the nature of where he has lived and what he has done, he cannot believe the smug self-satisfied parochial Liberal mindset. He will inevitably bring the cappuccino crowd around to a more realistic appreciation of the world we live in. Let him do his work among the heathen.
The current Liberal mindset is not just damaging to our trade interests - it's dangerous to our national security.
Scientific evidence that politics is stupid.
Mathematical evidence that we pay too much for it.
Telephone evidence that sometimes they get what they deserve.
Regulating blogs at the Opinionjournal - a new project by the left in America.
Radioequalizer on blogs and talk radio.
A Liberal campaign worker posing as a CBC reporter?
Why Stephen Harper is not Joe Clark. Or as someone called him recently - Joe Where?
And finally, the granddaddy of the Canadian blogosphere weighs in on the election results.
So many more that I wish I could use. Thanks again for all your contributions. Some days I have to weed through over 600 emails, so if you don't receive a response or see your tip used, that's why!
January 24, 2006
Oh, Canada.
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
A Series Of After Election Observations
Olivia Chow and Jack Layton now have an excuse for separate bedrooms.
The entire City of Toronto is now sitting in opposition.
No one was beheaded.
There's a new Opposition Critic for the Ministry of Complex Files.
You won't have regalcock.ca to kick around anymore.
Stephen Harper joins Tony Blair, Angela Merkel and John Howard on a growing list of world leaders who have prevailed over opponents running anti-American campaigns.
Andrew Scheer, 25, now has more power than Ralph Goodale.
Paul Martin left 3,000 political appointments vacant. Whoops.
A commentor; "The entire national media is insisting that the Conservatives are not an URBAN party, that they must pander to Toronto and Montreal. Well, on behalf of Edmonton, Calagary, Saskatoon, St. John's, Kelowna, Kamloops, Ottawa etc. etc., f*ck you very much."
Parked on the driveway of 24 Sussex, awaiting delivery, is the new official government transportation for the Governor General;
Life is good.
Dear American Bloggers:
Please read this notice by Damian Brooks;
Well, it's about time somebody said it, and I might as well be first: when it comes to Canadian politics, Glenn Reynolds doesn't know his back end from a hole in the ground.
Agreed, though he's hardly alone in that - I will give him credit for pulling together a pretty comprehensive post on the results.
But, for the record - Ed Morrissey did not "bring down the Canadian government", as some have described it.
His role was important, but it is more appropriate to credit him with exposing the Canadian blogosphere to a broader Canadian audience, through the controversy created when he published the (briefly) banned testimony. A good many SDA readers discovered each other by following the link from Captains Quarters back to here.
That was an extremely useful development for conservatives, and the furthering of a conservative agenda in Canada, and it's going to be exciting to see how that develops in coming months - and provincial elections, where a strong blogosphere might have far more influence than it does on the national debate.
But it was NDP leader Jack Layton who "brought down" the Canadian government, not Ed.
Heh. What's a 'Canada', anyway?
EsmayDean: Your obnoxious vegan moonbat Canadienne is almost certainly, right now, sobbing hysterically, as Bush has been effectively elected Prime Minister and Rove controls Ottowa.
INDCBill: ah
INDCBill: that is nice. What's an ottowa?
EsmayDean: I mean, she's SOBBING.
EsmayDean: Deeb, welling sobs.
EsmayDean: Shrubbie McHalliburton now owns Canada!
Open Thread
I'm busy for a while this morning - so I'll open this thread for comments, reader tips and day after election discussion.
Update: Jeremy Harrison is on radio right now over the results in the northern riding of Desnethe - Missinippi - Churchill River
- He was ahead by 200 votes until the last ballot box came in and lo and behold - it had 300 votes for the LIberals. That poll that put Liberal candidate over the top did not came in until 3 hours after the polls had closed
- some reserves had over 100% turnout
- there was campaign literature in the polling stations, and polling booths
- Liberal threats to aboriginal voters that they would not recieve cheques
There is going to be an official request for an investigation.
more: Advance Poll irregularities: poll clerks who refused to allow secret votes, who accompanied voters into the booths.
Footnote: I heard a report last night that the NDP brought a busload of students into a rural poll in Vanscoy and had them all signed in to vote.
Request: Can someone forward the poll results from Desnethe - Missinippi - Churchill River including (a) the number and (b) the sequences of which polls were tabulated first and how the final poll broke so dramatically from a pattern that had remained fairly consistant all evening, perhaps we can shed more light on this.
January 23, 2006
E-Day
Michelle Malkin is doing a nice job of sending her sizable audience to get the latest in Canadian election coverage.
Poll closing times have been staggered to minimize the lag time between east and west coast results, however, if you're looking for an advance peek at regional returns, I'm told Captains Quarters will be liveblogging.
I currently don't have plans to be online - I'm planning on a night out with a few friends in front of a big screen tv with a beer in my hand. But if I can get a hookup for my laptop, I may get a post or update in.
The comments thread will also be open. See above - I won't be here to police things, so behave yourselves, and don't feed the inevitable trolls.
 | 650 CKOM will be posting results on their website as soon as Sask polls close. The little map should update automatically as the night goes on. |
A final note - I am making no predictions whatsoever. I don't know that it's really possible for any pollster to predict how votes may split, or the effect of a dismal campaign on a disappointed Liberal base. I'm content to just wait and see, and keep my fingers crossed for my own CPC candidate, Carol Skelton.
One final reminder to those who will be watching live - early returns tend to favour urban results. In ridings with urban/rural splits, the rural (conservative leaning) polls tend to come in a little later and in many cases, early leads by the left are overtaken. The trend isn't as strong as it was some years ago, due to better communcations, but it still exists.
Other links I've been sent in the past week: ( I have no idea what they plan on doing - perhaps just sharing their emotional highs and lows...)
BBS
Vectorsphere
Decisioncanada2006.
Econoline
Publius Pundit.
Uncle Meat
Surly Beaver
Send your trackbacks, and comments, but I do advise Canadian bloggers not to overtly break the ban on posting results directly.
Also - judging by the google generated traffic, there's a chance the server's going to get slammed by this evening. Try to do your part by taking it easy on the reloads when reading comments.
And while we wait, a thoughtful piece by Pieter Dorsman on the future of the left in Canada.
Update: Kate Foxworthy moment: When you're working as a scrutineer at a polling station and some guy rides up in a sled and votes in a full face helmet and gear - and everyone knows who he is - you might be in Saskatchewan.
News From The Trenches
This thread is for reports on how voting is going in your own riding/province, etc. - voter turnout, any interesting developments.
(Voting, not results).
Federal Student Vote Program
Don't let your paranoia go into overload, but there are more details emerging from school voting story that raise significant questions about the judgement of those at Elections Canada in allowing over 700,000 official ballots out of their hands, and into those of Maude Barlow, David Suzuki and the CBC.
Actual Elections Canada voting screens, ballot boxes and ballots were supplied by Student Vote, a program that aims to provide students with a sneak peak at voting during an official election period."
Sent by a reader, who has already filed an official complaint with her school board.
Update - read the comments as more information comes in to clarify what's going on here.
From Elections Canada on the program and sponsorship.;
A total of 455,566 ballots were cast this past week, from Monday, January 16 to Friday, January 20. After studying the democratic process, party platforms and election issues throughout the campaign, students voted on the real candidates running in the 2006 general election. Results were reported from 2,445 schools in every province and territory, representing more than 280 electoral districts.
Read it all, though.
Reader Tips
Air guitars, ad parodies, Paul Martin talking out his "ads" - going to almost miss this campaign.
Almost.
Andrew Coyne has an op-ed in the New York Times;
"Small earthquake in Canada; not many hurt"
Nealenews has a roundup of commentary from foreign newspapers.
Pollsters are advising this one will be decided by BC.
Got questions? Plug your postal code into Elections Canada.
Update - already readers are reporting that their postal codes "do not exist".
Toss your own finds in the comments.
The Darling Of The Anti-War Left
British Member of Parliament and world renowned anti-Iraq war crusader - George Galloway.
Engaging The Base
Imagine for a moment, that George W. Bush had lost the election in 2004.
What are the chances, do you think, that he'd show up at, say - Free Republic*?
Yeah. I thought so.
From the comments, this striking bit of political insight;
"I'm impressed. But it also shows that Kerry's pretty serious about '08, and more than ready to engage the base."
May he win the nomination again.
Election Eve Blockbuster
Received from anonymous source;
"All of the evidence is not in, but it appears that US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice may have slept with Prime Minister Paul Martin when she was in Ottawa.I will send details when they become available. All I have now is this photograph."
BREAKING
MARTIN ISSUES DENIAL
January 22, 2006
Reader Tips
For years, tax weary British Columbians have travelled to sales tax free Alberta to buy various products. The BC government has taken the unprecedented step in pressuring Costco to reveal the names of BC customers who shop in their Alberta stores.
The Oracle of Ottawa knows what it takes. Flattery!
Al-Quada VS Iraqi insurgents. Oh, goodness. Who to root for?
Eugene Parks shows up on the Shotgun and collects more evidence about my and Stephen Taylor's shared business interests. -=| Insert joke here |=-
Iraq? Why isn't this election about which leaders would send troops to Iran? Cause, we might just have to - providing we don't wake up one of these mornings to a big shiny sea of glass.
