Category: Political Animal

Iraqis Vote Again

Omar reports that as of 2:45 local time, things are going smoothly in the Iraq constitutional vote;

The turnout in our district looks quiet good and actually going to the voting office was a good opportunity to meet some friends I haven�t seen in months.
I met one friend on the way and when I asked him what would his vote be he said that he hasn�t decided yet “if I voted yes I would be approving some articles that I don’t agree with and if I voted no we would go back to where we started from�” he said and that was really refreshing because this guy who used to believe in conspiracy theories and stuff like “what America wants is what’s going to happen” now feels that his vote can make a difference.

More liveblogging tha you know what to do with at Adventures of Chester and Bare Knuckle Politics.
UpdatesVia Fourth Rail. Dr. Fareed Ayar of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, estimates over 11 million participated, a turnout of nearly 70%. More at Instapundit including this quote;

During the Iraq elections last January there were 347 terrorist attacks on voters and polling places. Today there were 13.”

The best way to measure success in Iraq is to note the relative silence of the western media in covering the referendum vote. The less they say, the better things went, though I suspect they’ll be scratching for all the bad news they can dig up – old news, if need be.
Update Oct.16 – what I said.

Honda Designs Car for Dogs

I thought Kate would appreciate this one, given that she’s off at a dog show: Honda has designed a new concept car with man’s best friend in mind.
Honda Designs Car Friendly for Dogs (AP)

Photo: Pet dogs sit in special crates for dogs in the glove apartment at the front and bigger crate in the back seat of Honda Motor Corp.'s W.O.W Concept vehicle during a media preview in Wako, north of Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 26, 2005. With wide sliding doors, the concept vehicle that stands for 'wonderful openhearted wagon,' features special crates for pet dogs. It is an exhibition model with no plans for commercial sale that will be exhibited at the Tokyo Motor Show that opens on Nov. 19. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) Honda Motor Co. has designed a car that’s friendly for dogs � part of the Japanese automaker’s ongoing effort to create vehicles that are easy to use and comfortable to ride in. The W.O.W. Concept, which stands for “wonderful openhearted wagon,” shown to reporters recently, is an exhibition model with no plans for commercial sale that will be exhibited at the Tokyo auto show later this month.
A special crate for dogs in the glove apartment allows owners to interact with their pets while driving. A bigger crate pops up from the floor in the back seat area and can be folded back into the floor when it’s not needed. For even bigger dogs, just buckle them up with a special seat belt to the floor.
The big danger for pets riding along in cars is that they get thrown out during a crash. About a fifth of Japanese households have a dog, and demand is growing for cars that cater to man’s best friend, according to Honda. The W.O.W comes with removable, washable, rollout flooring and has wide sliding doors to keep dogs happy. “We created this vehicle from the point of view of a dog, but it turned out to be a gentler vehicle for the elderly, children and other family members,” said Honda designer Katsuhito Nakamura.

I don’t know which is funnier: the dog coming out of the glove “apartment” or the fact that the car is named “wonderful openhearted wagon.”
crosspost from OTB

Schr�der Denies Resignation Plans

German Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der denies widespread speculation that he is about to resign in the wake of the humiliating defeat in the September 18 elections.
Government Denies Resignation Rumors (Deutsche Welle)

While Germans wait for the announcement of a new government, speculation is rising about Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der’s resignation. Meanwhile, the opposition believes more and more in a grand coalition.
The surprising optimism following Wednesday’s talks between Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der’s Social Democrats (SPD) and the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) led by Angela Merkel has now been followed by further speculation about how the country will find a way out of its political paralysis. The rumor mill in Berlin is churning out speculation that Schr�der would rescind his claims of being chancellor for a third term.
The Berlin-based tabloid B.Z. splashed the question on its front page: “Schr�der Resignation on National Holiday — Monday Last Day?” Politicians also believed that Schr�der would soon resign so that a new German leader can finally be named.
[…]
The grand coalition as the final solution to the inconclusive elections on September 18 became more and more likely after Angela Merkel and the Christian Democrats exited talks with their preferred partners, the free-market liberal Free Democrats (FDP) on Thursday. “The possibility or likelihood of a coalition with the SPD is much higher than the other constellations,” Merkel told reporters. In addition, she said there was a “very high possibility” of success of creating a coalition with the Social Democrats.
Guido Westerwelle, whose FDP came out as the surprise third-strongest party with almost 10 percent of the vote, thought that result would be more than enough to accompany the conservatives into power. But he now appears to be coming to terms with the likelihood that the FDP will remain in the opposition. “It seems in all probability that we’re heading for a grand coalition,” he told reporters, adding that Schr�der should now step aside for the good of the country.

Grand coalition is an odd outcome but has always seemed the most likely. As odd a marriage as CDU-SPD would be, it far beats cobbling together a government based on several fringe parties.
Related:

crosspost from OTB

Schr�der Denies Resignation Plans

German Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der denies widespread speculation that he is about to resign in the wake of the humiliating defeat in the September 18 elections.
Government Denies Resignation Rumors (Deutsche Welle)

While Germans wait for the announcement of a new government, speculation is rising about Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der’s resignation. Meanwhile, the opposition believes more and more in a grand coalition.
The surprising optimism following Wednesday’s talks between Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der’s Social Democrats (SPD) and the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) led by Angela Merkel has now been followed by further speculation about how the country will find a way out of its political paralysis. The rumor mill in Berlin is churning out speculation that Schr�der would rescind his claims of being chancellor for a third term.
The Berlin-based tabloid B.Z. splashed the question on its front page: “Schr�der Resignation on National Holiday — Monday Last Day?” Politicians also believed that Schr�der would soon resign so that a new German leader can finally be named.
[…]
The grand coalition as the final solution to the inconclusive elections on September 18 became more and more likely after Angela Merkel and the Christian Democrats exited talks with their preferred partners, the free-market liberal Free Democrats (FDP) on Thursday. “The possibility or likelihood of a coalition with the SPD is much higher than the other constellations,” Merkel told reporters. In addition, she said there was a “very high possibility” of success of creating a coalition with the Social Democrats.
Guido Westerwelle, whose FDP came out as the surprise third-strongest party with almost 10 percent of the vote, thought that result would be more than enough to accompany the conservatives into power. But he now appears to be coming to terms with the likelihood that the FDP will remain in the opposition. “It seems in all probability that we’re heading for a grand coalition,” he told reporters, adding that Schr�der should now step aside for the good of the country.

Grand coalition is an odd outcome but has always seemed the most likely. As odd a marriage as CDU-SPD would be, it far beats cobbling together a government based on several fringe parties.
Related:

crosspost from OTB

Alberta Separation

I am a member of the Separation Party of Alberta. A person once accused me of treason because of this, but how can one commit treason when Canada’s government actually has legitimized a process whereby provinces can separate? (Clarity Act.)

I’m curious to know how many other SDA readers are Alberta separatists. If you are, what pushed you over the edge? If you’re an Albertan who isn’t in favour of separation, why not?

Let’s try and keep the comments on topic for this post, folks.

Stick this in your conch shell and blow it

In her installation speech yesterday, Liberal Party (Governor-General Division) CEO Michaelle Jean spoke admiringly of the �legendary hospitality and humour of people in the Atlantic provinces� Sorry to burst your bubble, Madam G-G, but, notwithstanding certain fawning reviews to the contrary, this Atlantic Canadian thinks your speech was a steaming pile of smug collectivist platitudes and cloying political correctness. Blech.

Canada Swears in New Governor General

Canada’s new unelected head of state is, oddly enough, a Haitian refugee.
Canada Swears in New Governor General

Queen Elizabeth II’s new representative in Canada, a refugee from Haiti, was sworn in Tuesday as the nation’s 27th governor general in a ceremony steeped in British tradition and Canadian color.
Michaelle Jean is the first black person and only the third woman to hold the largely ceremonial post as head of state, designed to defend Canada’s sovereignty and promote its national identity.
The 48-year-old journalist and documentary filmmaker, whose family fled dictatorship in Haiti when she was 11, is among the youngest to hold the office.
“It is with tremendous pride and deep emotion that I am responding today to the call of destiny, which sometimes takes us in a direction you might never have imagined,” Jean told members of Parliament and other dignitaries in the opulent Senate chambers on Parliament Hill.
“I am turning a significant page in my own story as I set off on this new adventure with hope and determination.”
Jean’s husband, French-born Quebec filmmaker Jean-Daniel Lafond and their 6-year-old adopted daughter, Marie-Eden, who was born in Haiti, applauded when Jean took the oath of office.
The ceremony included the traditional protocol of Canada’s British past � including military honors � as well as performances by Canadian entertainers.
Jean, who is required to speak Canada’s two national languages, French and English, is also fluent in Spanish, Italian and Haitian Creole. Her personal coat of arms shows two black mermaids blowing conch shells under the motto “Briser Les Solitudes” � breaking down solitudes.

I suppose having an appointed Haitian fill the post is no more odd than a Brit who happened to be born into royalty. Certainly, Jean’s credentials are more impressive than strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords in some farcical aquatic ceremony.
crosspost to OTB

Martin Operative Running For Vancouver Mayor?

Sam Sullivan, Christy Clark’s opponent for the mayoral nomination has accused Paul Martin’s B.C. organizers of interference in city politics, in this Sun piece (that goes out of its way to present Martin’s side and cast doubt on the motives of his critics.);

The charge was echoed by veteran B.C. commentator Gordon Gibson, a Sullivan supporter who said his view wasn’t influenced by his failed bid to get the vacant B.C. Senate seat recently filled by outgoing Mayor Larry Campbell.
Clark is married to Mark Marissen, the senior political organizer and adviser to Martin , who is in Vancouver today for Chinese President s Hu Jintao’s two-day visit.
[…]
A spokesman for Martin refused to respond to the rumours being spread by the Sullivan camp that [former Vancouver mayor] Campbell was appointed to make way for Clark’s candidacy.
Scott Reid, Martin’s director of communications, said Campbell’s own track record justifies the decision.
“A Parliament with Larry Campbell is a Parliament where the people of Vancouver have a tireless advocate. Public service is practically his middle name. That’s why he was asked to take a seat in the Senate,” Reid said.

Carol Jamieson: The Plot Thickens

Stephen Taylor has his eye on the oft-quoted “Trojan Tory” , who apparently, has never met a Tory party leader she couldn’t organize against. Now she’s issuing her own “news releases”.
It’s no surprise that the Harper hater is so popular with the Toronto Globe and Mail’s Gloria Galloway . Reportedly, Jamieson “coverage” will expand to the CTV news this evening, though I don’t know the nature of it.
Though, I can guess.
update here’s the online version.

Red States, Blue States


A couple of you have sent along John Fund’s analysis of the German election at WSJ Opinion Journal. Schroeder ran a campaign that will be familiar to Canadians – blatant anti-Americanism, bolstered with accusations that the right-of-center Christian Democrats had a “hidden agenda”. With 11 percent unemployment and zero growth, the election’s muddled result is not good news for Europe;

German voters may not again get quite as good a shot at installing a government that can bring about real economic reforms. Voters balked at real change at the last minute. In the words of economist Norbert Walter, “they wanted someone to wash their fur, but at the same time not get it wet.” Most Germans understand that their country has to modernize in the long run, but, says Thomas Kielinger, a writer for the newspaper Die Welt, “when push comes to shove many are reluctant to go for the candidate who tells it like it is.”
The late economist Mancur Olson argued that the downfall of democracy would be its tendency to calcify into special-interest gridlock. Germany’s extensive welfare state has created millions of voters who fear the loss of any benefits. Combine that with voters in eastern Germany who cling to outmoded notions of state support and you have an formidable challenge to bring about real reform.

The German blog Medienkritik has extensive breakdowns of results and commentary.
Ion Mihai Pacepa digs deeper in a National Review piece titled “Berlin’s New Anti-American Axis”. Pacepa is identified as “the highest-ranking intelligence officer ever to have defected from the former Soviet bloc”;

In February 10, 2003, the government of Germany began building a new, anti-American Berlin-Moscow-Paris Axis. As one of the former Soviet bloc experts on German matters (and chief of a bloc intelligence station in West Germany), I had been waiting for something like that to happen ever since October 1998, when Joschka Fischer became Germany’s foreign minister.
[…]
It may never be possible to prove “beyond the shadow of a doubt” Joschka Fischer’s connection with the Soviet KGB, but I do know that the KGB ? and my DIE ? was financing West Germany’s anti-American terrorist movements in the 1970s, while I was still in Romania. Fischer’s evidently ingrained anti-Americanism is now spreading throughout the German government, and beyond.

One of my regular readers had this to add, and has given me permission to reprint it here.

Here is the Angela Merkel quote which once gave me hope that Germany would lose its Socialist ties, at least for some years. “Wir brauchen keine Agenda 2010 mehr, so richtig Schritte von ihr waren, wir brauchen eine Agenda Arbeit. Arbeit braucht Wachstum, und Wachstum braucht Freiheit.”
“We do not need “Agenda 2010” (the name of the plan of reforms Chancellor Schr�der introduced), as proper as some of its steps are. We need an “Employment/Work Agenda.” Employment requires growth, and growth requires freedom.”
The Left in Germany and elsewhere in Europe has achieved rarely-acknowledged successes in transforming the country. They were well-conceived and carefully executed:

  • Education/Indoctrination. During the Cold War, the East Germans established a summer vacation teacher exchange program. The East Germans used this as an opportunity to indoctrinate the teachers from West Germany. During the Cold War, parents of school-age children who could afford it, would for that reason alone send them to private schools.
    It was during this time period that West Germany increasingly turned left and, significantly, turned its back on religion as well. Indoctrination done well begins with reinforcing your proclivities.

  • “Jusos”. The “Young Socialists” were formed and given a political role to gain experience and provide continuity in governing. In East Germany there was also the FDJ (Free German Youth) to begin political thinking and activity at an early age.
    I may have forgotten, but I know of nothing quite like it on the right.

  • “Stability” and “Prudence”. These were the watchwords of Bush 41 which conveniently left unexamined the record of the most murderous ideology in world history. Imagine, more than eleven million in Ukraine alone, before the outbreak of WWII!
    In 1990, Bush 41 did not want anything like a Nuremberg Trial anywhere, not even in now-tiny Hungary. I tried. The common ideology of Socialism that made the murders possible is evident in the formal names of the Nazis and USSR.
    As happened with so many others, Markus Wolf went seamlessly from the Nazi regime to become head of the Stasi and then allowed to disappear from view, “punished” with a suspended sentence.

  • Joschka Fisher. According to Mihai Pacepa, the anti-American sentiment in Germany was carefully-cultivated. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, according to Pacepa, the highest-ranking intelligence officer to defect during the Cold War, was certainly KGB-supported, probably an officer. His attacks now are more subtle than as a Red Brigade leader. And more damaging.
    “Joschka” is just the German spelling of the Hungarian word for “Joe.” His parents were Hungarian and left because of Soviet Occupation.
    Since once again we talk about a Berlin-Beijing-Moscow-Paris axis, are these the new Axis Powers? Just asking. We will know soon enough.

  • Juicing Up The Poll Numbers

    Did you catch this line in the latest Leger poll?

    “The numbers were reached after distribution of the 20 per cent of respondents who were undecided.”

    Meaning that Leger divided up the “undecideds” in equal proportion to those who expressed a preference.
    D.J. McGuire of China E-Lobby writes;

    If I remember your home province correctly (Saskatchewan, right?), you folks actually lived through one of these.� Remember when Roy Romanow was cruising to his 3rd majority in 1999?� When he had a 20-point lead and the election was seen as a formality?� Well, come election day, the UNDs decided almost entirely for the Sask Party, which nearly beat Roy, and�the shock�pushed him into early retirement.� Germany just went through the same thing, where pollsters had the CDU up 10 points, after it wiped out (ahem, “distributed”) UND voters.� They broke largely away from the CDU, and now everyone is stunned.

    Down here in the US, we just don’t poll that way.� The UNDs are not wiped out/”distributed”; their called what they are – undecided.� If an American firm was polling the survey Leger had, for example, it would look like this: Liberal 33.3%, Tories 20%, NDP 12%, Bloc 10.8%, Others 6.6%, Undecided 20%.

    In other words, the Grits would look good, but there would obviously be enough voters out there to tip the balance.� The next�step would be to find out who the UNDs are, to figure out to whom they would lean.� The arguments and other hijinks would then ensue.� Instead, most Canadians who are�looking at that poll will see a Grit surge that just isn’t there.� This sort of polling is great for whomever is in first, but terrible for everyone else, and wrongly so.

    Now, Martin et al will dream of a majority, more knives will be out for Harper, and western voters will get a good deal angrier, all because Canadian pollsters can’t seem to find the energy to examine, rather than dismiss, undecided voters.

    The issue is discussed in more detail by Maurice Pinard, Professor Emeritus at McGill University in reference to Quebec polling.

    Out With A Whimper

    Monte Solberg;

    I’m told that the PMO has had around thirty staff changes in the last year. I note that long time loyalist Ruth Thorkelson quietly left the PMO as Deputy Chief of Staff for the office that makes appointments. I note too that this happened after the Michaele Jean uproar. Clearly these two things are unconnected and no stories should be written connecting the two.

    I bet you didn’t hear that.
    Though, let’s be fair to the national media – insignificant departures from the Prime MInister’s office are just so hard to fit it in, what with the headline grabbing coverage of Conservatives letting go staffers, Conservatives in Quebec criticizing the leader, and Conservatives dropping out… er, not dropping out of candidacy races.

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