Daz's Daily Musings

Round 2

2007-04-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

Alright, so we managed to fight our way through the quarter-finals and are now on to the semi's against the Anaheim Ducks (or as Alanah refers to them, Disney gone Bad). Game 1 is tomorrow night at 7pm tomorrow night, and yet again, I'm gonna live-blog this one. It's actually kinda fun, even when you're half-cut. Although, my 1st time was a wee bit rough.

If by any chance you need a reason to build up your hatred of Anaheim, be sure to check out Mike's reasons to hate Anaheim. And of course his live-blogs,(yeah he's a little angry but remember, he has to watch the games on Versus).

Take it easy until tomorrow night, when this heart attack inducing ride starts back up again.

Canucks v. Stars Game 4- Live Blogging Part Deux

2007-04-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, so now for my second try at (drunken) live blogging. Hopefully it doesn't turn into a marathon like the last one. 'Cause I don't think my heart/liver can handle it.

Pre-Game Notes:
Off-topic, but on todays like this I love living in Vancouver. Nice temp, blue sky and nothing to do.

The Crazy Canucks crew is gonna be on CTV, awesome to them getting a little more exposure (well outside of Rebecca who's been getting a lot of press lately).

Anyways, time to go and get my food/beer ready for the game.

Was Don Cherry wearing a dark purple velvet suit? Or is it the pre-game beers playing tricks with my eyes?

Josh Green is back tonight! Lets hope he lasts more than a game.

Dallas has a crappy opening song for when the players come out onto the ice. You need a song that starts pulling at your gut and heart from the very first note. That and in the stands there seems to be more people in Texas A&M gear that Stars gear. What's up with that?

1st Period:
18:58 - Seriously, don't people know not to call me during a game?

17:27 - 4-0 for the Rangers?

16:something - Bad penalty there for Naslund. Puts the Stars on their first PP.

14:07 - Good kill and Sedin nearly scores the ensuing rush, good stop by Turco.

13:20 - Sopel makes me nervous, why the hell does he skate right at Luongo?

12:45 - Ok, think everybody except the refs thought that penalty was gonna be on Sedin for tripping.

11:17 - Now that passing play by our PK should be shown to kids learning how to kill penalties.

9:41 - Nice little rush by Bulis (yeah I know weird to say that) and in the resulting Stars panic, they take a penalty giving us our 1st PP. Now lets try and do something with it.

8:22 - Ok, we look like a bag of shite on the PP right now.

8:00 - Uhh ok. Don't really know what happened there with Hagman. But we've got a 4 on 3.

7:35 - Or maybe not, screw it I blame the beer.

6:59 - 2 Stars forwards down so far.

6:45 - Seriously this is bullshit penalty. I hate this stupid delay of game thing. You listening Bettman? Get rid of it!

5:47 - Nice block by Burrows!

4:56 - I love our PK unit. My blood pressure doesn't skyrocket anymore when a penalty gets called.

2:48 - Damn it Sopel! Stay in position.

1:36 - Nice little play there by the Linden line, buts lets try and get a shot form inside the faceoff dots.

1:31 - Ok, now we get another chance. Lets actually get setup this time.

0:05 - Now this is what I'm talking about. Great flurry of shots there. Love watching Salo load up that slap shot.

End of the 1st: Well, not a great 1st period but I'll take it. Need to go and get rid of some rented beer. Don't forget to check out Mike @ Yankee Canuck who is also live-blogging this game.

1st Intermission: Update on other games going on tonight. The Rangers are smacking the Thrashers around 5-0 with 18 minutes left in the 3rd. Ottawa and Pittsburgh are tied up at 1-1 in the 3rd. Anaheim and Minny are getting started momentarily and Detroit will return to the demolition of Calgary in about an hour.

2nd Period:
18:23 - Hansen, Bulis and Morrison(?) getting some good pressure to start the period off.

17:33 - 2-1 for Ottawa, just over 10 minutes to go.

17:04 - Ahh, just some broken glass, thought it was an injury there.

15:44 - Damn, Luongo with some nice stops there. Especially that last one with him 15 ft out of his net.

14:06 - Get Sopel off the ice and get the puck out of your damn zone!

12:something - Boucher and Smoke mixing it up a little. But of course CBC doesn't give any highlights just cuts to commerical. Never mind its Turco trying to stir shit up.

12:27 - Stupid penalty by Modano there to put us on the 4 on 3.

11:03 - Sopel get the fuck off the ice! Your on the damn powerplay, don't fuck up simple stuff.

10:27 - And we're on the PP again. Now just keep Sopes off the ice and we might have a chance.

9:26 - Never mind, we'll just take ourselves off the PP.

8:48 - Ice looks like crap. Pucks bouncing all over the place. Guess thats what happens when you have the NHL, NBA and Arena Football in the same place.

7:something - Nice play again by Bulis and his pass to Green just out of reach on the 2 on 1.

7:something - And we're on the PP again. Side note: WTF, CBC why does it take you so damn long to get your time ticker back up?

4:28 - And Hanssen with a nice shot. Kid looks good out there in only his 2nd NHL game.

2:24 - Henrik takes a penalty putting Dallas back on the PP. Not that it really make much of difference. Both teams PP have been pretty anemic so far.

0:15 - Jesus or Roberto Luongo, as he's otherwise known, makes a series of ridiculous saves to keep the score even.

End of the 2nd: I've got a bad feeling we're going to OT in this game. And with my luck these guys are gonna try and beat their own OT record. Hope I bought enough beer.

2nd Intermission: Another update on scores. Ottawa beats Pittsburgh 2-1 to go up 3-1 in their series. 7-0 Rangers over Atlanta to go up 3-0 in their series. And a 0-0 tie in Minny against Anaheim.

3rd Period:
20:00 - Over 19 minutes of penalties so far between the 2 teams. Too bad both teams powerplays have been completely useless.

17:34 - From Hughson, not a shot on net so far for Modano in this game.

15:33 - Dallas is starting to look a little desperate in this period. They've get the puck in our zone for most of the period but haven't really had a decent shot yet.

12:30 - Dallas is throwing everything but the kitchen sink into our zone trying to get something. Too bad (for them) that we've got Luongo in net (Thanks Mike Keenan, and yes this is probably the one and only time you'll hear me say that).

10:30 - Finally some decent pressure by the Canucks.

10:02 - OHLY!!!!! And the nucks go up 1-0.

8:22 - Pressure is on Turco now. The time to choke is all his now.

6:something - Damn it. Sydor scores off a screen from Morrow. 1-all

5:31 - And Linden scores to put us back up again. Turco gave a juicy rebound that went off a Stars D-man and right to him.

4:00 - Alright guys lets just hold on. Another goal would be nice though.

3:05 - How long until we see Turco out of his net?

2:something - Mitchell saves one for Luongo. And keeps the score 2-1. Christ that one was damn close.

2:00 - Turco's coming out any second now.

1:25 - Or maybe not, Dallas can't get any decent pressure in our zone.

1:07 - Turco's out.

0:28 - Bulis lays it out to block a nice shot.

0:21 - Luongo makes a great glove save.

0:13 - Daniel just misses the empty net for an icing call.

0:00 - Canucks win 2-1 and open up their lead in the series 3-1.

End of the Game: Alright so now we come back into Vancouver leading 3-1 in the series. Awesome. And the game didn't last 5 1/2 hours, almost as good as them winning.

Anyways, be sure to check out Alanah, JJ, the Crazy Canucks and everybody listed in my sidebar for some more commentary on this game.

Quick Note

2007-04-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well, we're up 2-1 and Game 4 is tonight. So far, each game has had someone live blog it. Be it me for Game 1, Mike at Yankee Canuck(with his angry drunk-blogging) for Game 2 or Alanah with her semi-live blog for Game 3. Well to keep this up, I plan on live-blogging this game tonight again, although I'm praying for a couple of fewer overtimes. And if Mike hasn't floated away, he is also planning on live-blogging it as well. Bonus, double coverage, probably with me complain about the CBC and Mike about Versus. Anyways, need to prepare, see you later at 5 pm PST.

Canucks v. Stars Game 1- Live Blogging Edition

2007-04-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, so here we go. Remember, this is my first time at this so mistakes are bound to pop up.

Pre-game: Got my pizza, lots of Coke and some Gibsons. Should be good to go. Its Hughson(sp?) and Neale doing the call tonight on CBC. Wonder if Team 1040 have synced up the sound? Hope so.

Just waiting on the Anthem now. Better go mix myself a drink.

Love Mark Donnelly when he does the anthem. Gets the crowd into it even more (don't know how thats possible)

1st Period:
20:00 - Is it just me or does the first few bars of "Where the Streets have no name" send a tingle up your spine. Does every time. Christ I feel like a kid on christmas morning.

19:51 - Well that didn't take long, already a stoppage.

19:00 - Kesler's playing?

17:30 - Bieksa just took a puck of his foot and is grimacing on the bench. Lets hope he's ok.

16:46 - Bulis with our 1st big scoring chance.

15:40 - Daniel Sedin scores!!! Looked like it bounced off a Stars Dman.

14:54 - Bieksa takes the 1st penalty of the game.

14:32 - And the Stars convert, Morrow with a redirect past Luongod.

13:something - Now we get our 1st PP, lets hope they can do something with it. And a TV commerical break. Why don't they come out with new ones, kinda like they do for Superbowl.

13:19 - And now we've got a 2 man for 1:42

11:42 - Bieksa not playing very heads up and gets caught by Hagman coming out the penalty box and has to take a stupid hooking call. And Luongo makes a crazy stop with his head!

9:20 - Good kill

8:00 - Hopefully Alain Vigneault talks to the guys in the intermission and calms these guys down.

7:21 - Dallas gets a delay of game penalty after shooting the puck out of play. I hate this penalty.

5:28 - Ohlund nearly caught Turco wandering out of his net.

5:something - Dallas takes another penalty for slashing. Kinda looks like the Stars are trying to push us around.

4:26 - Wish our PP could score.

3:44 - Bieksa takes his 3rd straight penalty.

2:17 - Luongo grabs another one out of thin air. And the Canucks take another penalty (not Bieska this time) and 30 seconds of 2 man for the Stars.

1:02 - Didn't see who it was but one of the Nucks just robbed a Star. Walked up and just took the puck off his stick.

End of the 1st - Hate to echo the CBC guys, but WTF!! Wasn't this supposed to be tight checking, defensive series? Not that I'm complaining mind you. Right now I'm chalking it up to the excitement of the post-season. Oh well, time to take a little break here.

2nd Period:
20:00 - Starting to feel the pre-game drinking a little bit, god its gonna suck going to work tomorrow. At least my sup is a big 'nucks fan so he'll know why I'm so hung-over.

18:30 - Hope that Team 1040 decides to sync their audio to the TV soon.

17:14 - CBC stat: Turco is 0-4 in Game 1's.

15:26 - CBC feed keeps stuttering, rather annoying

14:27 - Looks like McReary was trying to pull off a triple axel or something there.

14:something - Nucks get the 1st PP of the 2nd.

13:32 - Ohly!! Scores a nice one with a one-timer. Might have been deflected by Pyatt

13:04 - Turco takes out Burrows and takes a penalty. Dumb move, silly Turco.

11:48 - Our PP may be a little anemic with the scoring but at least they make it look good with the setup.

10:46 - How the hell does Luongo make some of these saves, he looks like Gumby on some of 'em.

10:00 - Damn, Dallas ties it back up with a shot from Daley that I don't even think Luongo saw with a 2 man screen in front of him.

9:something - Commercial break thankfully. Man this is a lotta work. Don't know how Alanah does this on a regular basis. Don't forget to check out Mike who is also planning on live blogging a couple of games.

8:00 - Watching Turco coming out to play the puck brings back some scary Cloutier memories.

6:50 - What the hell, CBC guys are talking about the Swede's vs. the Fins in this match up

6:10 - Nazzy scores a beaut on Turco. Nice wrister thru the 5 hole. 3-2 Nucks!

5:40 - Cooke takes a tripping penalty to put the Stars up a man. Kinda nice having an awesome PK unit. My heart doesn't stop anymore when we take a penalty.

4:26 - Speaking of the PK unit, man is it great having Kesler back there again.

3:30 - Damn, nice hit by Bulis.

2:59 - Luongo makes another great stop with his toe. He uses every part of his body to make a stop.

1:46 - Further evidence of what J.J. was talking about in his "rant" on Nazzy. Markus makes a great defensive play with knocking the puck away from a Star and stops their rush dead.

0:04 - Another CBC stat: when leading after 2, the 'Nucks are 30-1-5 (doesn't sound quite right but who knows)

End of the 2nd - Well, we're heading into the 3rd with a 1 goal lead, who would have expected that? In this series, I'd be surprised to see either team get up by more than a goal, maaaybe by 2. Alright bathroom/smoke break before the 3rd.

2nd Intermission - I hate the CBC. Just listened to Hrudey talking about how Naslund had a "horrible" season. BS.

3rd Period:
19:18 - Cooke hasn't come back since coming off the ice late in 2nd with an injury after a knee on knee hit he made on a Dallas player.

18:17 - Barnes takes a tripping penalty to put the Canucks on a PP early in the 3rd.

16:17 - Another fruitless power play. 1 for 7 so far.

15:29 - Nazzy is skating like a fiend tonight.

14:14 - Luongo with a couple of great saves. He makes them look almost ordinary somehow.

13:29 - Morrow misfires on near point blank one-timer.

12:24 - Smoke scores!!! Off a rebound from the glass behind the net. 4-2 Nucks!

11:29 - Miettinen scores for the Stars to bring it to 4-3. Caught Luongo slightly out of position after he made a save. Rare rebound given up by Roberto.

9:08 - Crowds chanting "Turco" then "You suck". Wonder what its gonna be like if this goes to 7.

6:14 - Nagy squeaks one past Luongo to tie it up 4-4

5:05 - The "Brabarian" just misses on nice shot on Turco and breaks his stick. That reminds me, check this episode from the Crazy Canucks for little tidbit on how the legend began.

3:26 - Scary bit there, Nucks couldn't get the puck out their zone. Need a change pretty badly.

2:37 - Shots are 14-2 for Dallas in the 3rd (38-21 overall)

0:35 - Good lord, get the puck out your damn zone.

0:04 - Nazzy sends a puck off of Turco's head.

End of the 3rd - Good lord we're going to overtime. This game might just kill me, and as Mike said, it's only game 1.

Well I've been complaining about the CBC crew, maybe I should count myself lucky. Mike is ready to kill the entire Versus crew. That got me to thinking "Who is worse, the CBC or Versus?". Well I just checked out Versus and the panel they had up? Who the hell are those guys?

Update on some of the other games tonight. Ottawa took down Crosby and the Penguins 6-3. Minny and the Ducks are tied @ 1 in the 3rd. And San Jose beat the Predators 5-4 in the 2nd overtime period (god I hope this doesn't go that long).

1st Overtime:
19:39 - CBC is reporting Cooke has a groin sprain, no word on exactly how long he'll be out.

18:18 - Maybe I'm overstating the fact, but hell its my blog, it sure is nice to see Kesler back out there.

17:11 - Shots are 40-23 for Dallas right now. All of you should bow down and thank the hockey gods we have Luongo in net for us. (Its become a near nightly ritual for me)

16:19 - Nice hustle from Bieksa to cut off a scoring chance for the Stars.

14:49 - Anyone else getting tired of the relentless media info about how alike these 2 teams are?

13:49 - Where has this Bulis been all year?

13:01 - This game is gonna kill me. Another great save by Luongo.

11:17 - Bulis f#@'s up with a bad back pass, then makes up for by coming back and helping out Mitchell to clear it out of our zone.

9:16 - Beautiful hit by Cowan.

8:something - Robidas takes a slashing penalty and puts the Nucks on thePP

7:42 - Turco makes a nice save, drops it and manages to tap it out of their zone.

6:49 - Surprise, surprise, we didn't score on the PP.

6:14 - And Cowan with another great hit.

5:47 - Seriously, where has this Bulis been all season?

4:37 - Nice shot by Morrison and Turco makes the save, don't think he even knew where the puck was.

4:04 - Burrows got slammed into the boards, his head bounced pretty nastily there. Couldn't get to his feet that well either. CBC noted Bernstein walked him back to the training room but appeared to be walking a little better.

2:06 - And the linesman damn near scores for the Stars, before Lou flopped out to stop the puck.

0:55 - Pyatt with another nice shot on Turco, who gloves it down. Looks like we're going to a 2nd OT period here.

End of the 1st OT - Oh goody, another OT period.

Update on the other game tonight. Anaheim takes the 1st game of their series beating Minny 2-1.

2nd Overtime:
20:00 - Burrows isn't on the bench to start this period. Not good.

19:something - Luongo holds off a quick flurry of shots to keep us in this game.

18:09 - Great save, Luongo. Nothing against Shorty but that does sound nice from Hughson.

17:49 - Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it a lot easier to score when the puck isn't in your end?

16:46 - Shots 51-30 for Dallas, and Bieksa gets another penalty for high-sticking.

15:46 - Couple of nice blocked shots there by Smoke.

15:21 - Krajicek takes a high-sticking penalty to put us down 2 men for 40 seconds.

14:43 - Killed the 2 man advantage

13:19 - Don't really know how, but we've killed the penalty and the fans are going nuts with the towels a spinnin'

12:22 - Henrik loses his helmet and stick and of course no penalty is called.

11:46 - Turco almost gets caught out of his net and a bit of a scramble in front of the Star's nets. Unfortunately nothing comes out of it.

8:55 - Luongo gloves it down to slow the game down a little. Would somebody please shut Neale up?

7:39 - Another snag by Roberto

7:12 - Turco stops a shot from Daniel Sedin, resulting in a faceoff with another shot from Morrison. Again a great stop by Turco.

5:49 - This is gonna be a long series.

3:04 - At this point you can start to tell how long the game has been going on. All the players are starting to look a little sluggish.

1:02 - Shots are 57-32 now.

0:24 - Barnes sends a shot sailing of the crossbar.

End of the 2nd Overtime - You know it, yet another overtime. I'm gonna run out of booze if this goes on much longer.

For anybody that lives in the GVRD, good luck in getting anything done tomorrow.

3rd Overtime:
19:24 - Why does it take CBC so long to get their time banner up? Seems to take a least a minute or 2 every period until it shows up.

17:56 - Somehow it seems that Cowan still has some energy. Not sure if anyone else does anymore.

15:27 - Pyatt has a great chance but can't pull the trigger to end it.

14:38 - Another nice shot by Cowan.

1301 - So who likes sloppy hockey? The longer this goes on, the worse both sides get.

12:08 - Krajicek with a nice shot on net that Turco stops.

11:33 - Turco grabs another one out of the air to stop play again.

9:11 - Sedin's get a good cycle going, unfortunately nothing comes out of it.

7:18 - Hughson note - "It's been nearly 2 and 1/2 hours since the last goal". Please don't remind me.

6:52 - Crowd looks to be thinning a bit. Guess somebody is actually planning on going to work tomorrow.

4:50 - Please, for the love of god, somebody please score (of coures, I'm only talking to the Canucks players)

2:11 - The ice looks like sh*t right now. Puck is bouncing all over the place. Although that could be coming from fatigue on the part of the players.

0:40 - Turco makes another stop. Looks like we're going to a 4th OT. Let me remind you. THIS IS ONLY GAME ONE!!!!!! Lord help us if this goes to 7.

End of the 3rd OT - Sweet Jesus. Why did I say I would live blog this game? I'm starting to have trouble focusing on the screen right now.

If this game goes much longer, we might see Cooke or Burrows back on the ice.

4th Overtime:
18:55 - I really don't know anymore, 3 Stars forwards with at least 38 minutes of ice time so far. CBC hasn't put up any stats for the Nucks yet.

14:47 - Nobody is really creating much of anything. If anything happens now, its gonna come from a mistake. And that mistake will be due solely to fatigue, nothing else.

12:49 - Well, we've made the top 10 in terms of longest playoff games ever.

10:26 - Are they even hitting anymore? Some of these hits look like they just don't have the energy to stop, so they just keep going.

8:26 - Another play just kinda fades out with a decent scoring chance developing.
6th longest game ever

7:33 - Shots are 75-53 (or something like that, I don't quite remember what was flashed up on the screen)

5:56 - Luongo makes another great save with a tip only about 5 ft in front of him.

4:03 - Another great cycle by the Sedins. And it seemed to be in slo-mo (just like the rest of the players) so you can actually see what they're doing.

1:54 - Its over, Henrik scores on a pass from his brother to end this marathon. 5-4 for the Nucks. One down, 3 to go (15 in total).

After game notes: Who the hell amI kidding? We f*&king won. I don't really care about anything else right now. Other than the fact that it took us 130 minutes to win. Damn right with CBC picking Roberto as the 1st star. Be sure to check out J.J., Zanstrom and Alanah for more post game reactions. And they'll probably be much more coherent than anything I could produce right now.

Now, if you'll excuse me, think I'm gonna go pass out now. Enjoy the rest of the series and I will hopefuly be able to live-blog another one of their games coming up. So keep an eye out for an announcement regarding the next torture session I'll be part of.

Coupla quick tidbits

2007-04-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

Ahh, Glorious time of year. It has finally stopped raining everyday here in Vancouver (now its just every other day) and the NHL playoffs are about to begin. As I mentioned in my last post, I was planning on (drunken) live-blogging at least a few of the playoff games. Looks like Game 1 tomorrow of the Nucks-Stars series is gonna be my first. Feel free to stop and leave a comment (drunken or otherwise).

In other goings on in Canuck fandom:

The Yankee Canuck has a couple of great posts/ideas for the upcoming series. I especially like his Gettin' Ornery for Humanity ideas. Including the awesome idea he had to donate to a particular charity in the opposing teams city for every win the Nuck's get against them. Don't forget to check out his list of reasons to hate Texas to get your blood up before the game.

Zanstrom over at Waiting for Stanley, Alanah @ Canucks and Beyond, and JJ from Canucks Hockey Blog have a bunch of commentary on the upcoming series (read that as much more informed than my musings).

And last but not least, don't forget to check out the crew over at the Crazy Canucks podcast for some great discussions as well as a ton of laughs. I'm hoping to throw one of their button linkie things up on my sidebar but HTML coding makes absolutely no sense to me (give me a proper language like C++ or hell BASIC even) so it might be a while.

We're In !!!!!!!!!!

2007-03-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Sweet, the Canucks have just clinched a playoff spot. And we did it over the goddamn Avalanche! After the pain that Colorado has caused us in the past, this is freaking great. Calgary did us a favour too, by beating Minnesota, putting us back into 1st in the North West.

To cap this off, it would be freaking great if the game on April 5th against the Av's ended up being a must win for Colorado. And then having us beat them, eliminating them from the playoffs. Ahh, one can dream can't they? :)

For some of my regular readers, posting will be a little light for the next week or two. I am, however, hoping to try one of these (drunken) live-blogging thingies, hopefully during one of the Canucks playoff games in the 1st round. Once I've figured out the date, I'll post further details.

UPDATE:
Didn''t know this:
From NHL.com - The win by Vigneault matched him with Pat Quinn (1992-93) for Vancouver's most coaching wins in a season with 46.

Rock 101's Luongo Song

2007-03-14T13:50:00.001-07:00

Another one of their (mostly) great Twisted Tunes.

Your guess is as good as mine

2007-03-14T13:49:00.000-07:00

No real theme to my post today.

I'm not gonna apologize again for the lack of posting. Suffice it to say, working 40 hours a week, watching hockey and trying to spend a minimum of 2 hours a day away from my computer makes it a little difficult to post.

Speaking of hockey, I've noticed that most of my visits in the last while have come from various searches for the Luongo Song. Well, I finally found a copy of it, you can find it here. Hat tip to Zanstrom over at Waiting for Stanley for posting it. It's actually the clip I heard as well, with Don Taylor and Dave Pratt offering their views of it while it's playing. In the post below this one, you can find Rock 101's Luongo Song as well.

Continuing in the hockey vein. Alanah has done some serious work on a project over at Kukla's Korner. The result, the World Wide Web of Hockey, is whole bunch of links to anything and (almost) everything related to hockey on the net. It's quite impressive, so go and check it out. Next thing that would be cool to see is a hockey blog aggregator.

That's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have a new post a little sooner next time.

One Fan's Opinion

2007-01-24T21:02:00.000-08:00

For a bit of a change, I'm gonna talk about my beloved Canucks today. I'll warn you ahead of time, I'm not gonna offer anything about their play or personnel. For that, check out Alanah and the rest of The Crazy Canucks for some excellent (and usually pretty friggin' hilarious) commentary. Actually the idea for this post was triggered by one of J.J.'s comments on their podcasts and from some talk from the guys on Team 1040.

As many of you may already know, the NHL, in partnership with Reebok, launched new uniforms at the beginning of the All-Star break. This has started up talk amongst various commentators about some teams changing their uniforms, including logos. One of the big things I've been hearing lately is about the Canuck's going back to their old logo, ie. the "stick in a rink" design. And I've gotta say I'm for it, but with a few conditions. First off, just like Rebecca from the podcast, I don't want anything to happen to Fin, just 'cause he's a pretty cool mascot and what the hell would we replace him with? Pac Man (what else would look like the stick in rink logo?) And I wouldn't want them to get rid of the Orca C design entirely. I don't know, when they first came out with it, I wasn't so sure but its kinda grown on me and I'd be sorry to see it go. If they did something similar to the current uni's, with one logo on the shoulder and a different one on the chest. except obviously switching the logo positions I think I'd be pretty happy with that. Hell, who am I kidding, if the hockey god's were to guarantee perfect health for Luongo for the next 6 years I could live with the old flying V's sweaters.

Finally, speaking of Luongo, did anybody else hear the new "Luongo" song on the Team yesterday? I've been trying to find a copy but have been so far unsuccessful in my hunt and any tips would be appreciated.

PM or King?

2007-01-23T15:11:00.000-08:00

Well, as promised here is the first of (hopefully) many posts I'll be writing on the different issues/concerns I have with the federal government and the way it is run. An important note, both political parties,unless explicitly mentioned, are guilty of most of these things (IMHO,anyways). Another note, the problem I'm discussing here relates to majority governments, minorty governments have been so rare I don't have the time or enough information to discuss that situation with much confidence. Now to begin.

Perhaps the biggest problem I have with the Federal government lies with the power that our PM has. Or to be more specific, how much power the PM (& PMO) has managed to concentrate in one place. Perhaps the only other position that can claim a similar level of power is the Minister of Finance, and even then the PM wins out.

It starts with the control the PM exercises over his/her party. Being able to prevent candidates from running for your party or on the other hand "parachuting" candidates into different ridings is just the start. The different patronage powers allows one to reward those that helped you out or to offer as a prize for being loyal. With regards to the party MP's, the PM can promise Cabinet and Parliamentary Secretary positions to reward loyal MP's. And the you have the Cabinet, where most(if not all) the important policy is decided upon, and who is the head of the cabinet? Who decides what Cabinet consensus is?

And to control all of this it only takes 3 people, the PM and two deputies: the Minister of Finance and the party whip. The whip takes care of the back-benchers and makes sure they follow the party's (read the PM's) line. The Minister of Finance keeps the Cabinet in line just by being in control of the purse strings, he (or she) can either allow each minister's projects to go forward or to impede them by denying funding. Finally you have the PM (and the PMO) as the ringmaster, who with his two "lieutenants" becomes the "captain" of this little ship we like to call Canada, pretty much free to do as he wants (at least until the next election).

Guess this reason this bugs me so much is goes against the idea of responsible government in Canada, best defined in this quote from one of my old poli sci textbooks:

A regime in which legislative and executive power are fused together in a cabinet which is accountable to an assembly of the peoples elected representatives

In other words, our cabinet should ultimately have to answer to the House. But ultimately, who makes the final decision in Cabinet? The PM. And who can control the way the House votes (at least his party)? The PM.

We have a system that follows the letter but not the spirit of responsible government. And increasingly, we have one man (or woman) in a position to control all of the levers of power.

A New Year, and a new beginning (maybe)

2007-01-02T16:09:00.000-08:00

Ahh man, its been a long time (sorry Carolynne ;) ). I have to admit, I've been so busy this last month that it has been impossible to keep up with all of the stories popping up in the news and blogosphere. It may not appear so, but I do a fair amount of research and (more importantly) fact checking on each one of my posts. Because of this, I haven't really felt like I could write and give you guys a decent post. That and I have to admit I've been distracted a little from the political world by other interests.

As such, I'm wondering about the direction I'm going to go with this blog in the new year. I started off this blog back in Nov. '05 and as you can see it was a bit of a mishmash of topics. During the last year, I drifted towards a format that was almost exclusive political. And now, I'm not sure where to go, should I stay with the politics (and possibly post only 3-4 times a month) or do I move to a more personal theme (ie. widen the scope to more of my interests but lower the quality (IMO) of the posts). Or, as Monty Python puts it, is "now time for something completely different"?

So far, I haven't made a decision but I will be sure to let you all know once I do. In the meantime, I don't really have anything else to say right now but I'm planning on doing a post (or possibly a series of posts) on the different issues I have with the way government is run and structured, so keep an eye out for that.

One last note, it appears that the spammers have discovered my blog, so I've turned on word verifaction.

Call off the search party

2006-12-03T18:51:00.001-08:00

Alright, this is another post to explain my lack of posting.

Where do I start? Well, I finally got the spyware problem cleaned up 2 weekends back and was just about to get back to posting. Then the 'net died on me and that took a couple of days to clear up. Then we had that nice little snow dump out here and I lost power for a couple of days. During all of this, I also started a new job and have been in training. So its been a fun couple of weeks. Hopefully this is the end of everything and I can get back to posting a little more regularly (although the job might cut that down a little).

As an aside, the final Canadian Blog Award results have just come out (thanks to Robert for his work in organizing it). Congrats to both Andrew (@ Bound by Gravity) and Olaf (@ Prairie Wranglers) for going #1 and #2 in the Best Conservative category.

Can't these guys find anything better to do?

2006-11-07T16:57:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post today to explain my recent lack of posting.

I've been hit with a rather serious infestation of spyware and/or malware on my computer (damn teenagers with nothing better to do). So obviously my attention has been diverted away from the happenings on the Canadian political scene. Looks pretty hopeful that I'll have this cleared up sooner rather than later and I can get back to spouting off my opinion to those willing to listen.

What the Hell?

2006-10-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

So, I'm sitting around reading the Vancouver Province this afternoon and I come across this article, "Sims, BCTF sue Google over comments in blog about B.C. politics." (article is subscription only)

Seems Jinny Sims and the BCTF have decided to sue Google over some statements made on the BC Poly Blog. This was a blog set up back in April that pretty much solely criticized and/or made fun of the BCTF and BC NDP. It then pretty quickly petered out after the teachers union settled with the government.

This is probably the first I've heard of this, at least in a Canadian jurisdiction. Especially over the naming of Google as the defendant.

But I think the reason I had to share this was due to this paragraph reporting on the statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court(thank you so much Keith Fraser):

"And it says Sims did not kidnap beloved Sesame Street (original emphasis) character Big Bird and threaten to kill him/her in response to the Functional Skills assessment tests"

Now most of you are probably going: Uhh, wait a minute, WHAT?

Well if you're interested, here is the offending post.

Looks like Jinny and BCTF don't have a sense of humour. Anyways, if anyone would like to see the full text of the article, let me know and I will endeavor to track it down for you.

UPDATE:

Well, it appears this lawsuit has re-awakened the BC Poly Blog. And it appears the rest of the Sesame Street characters are coming to their defense.

Just a couple of tidbits

2006-10-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

I was going to include these few notes at the end of my last post but I felt that one was getting pretty long. Anyways:

1. For those of you that use Firefox, the 2.0 update is coming out today (ht to Andrew), for those of you still using IE, why do punish yourselves? For details on what's new, check out what Andrew had to say.

2. I was a little slow to catch on to the whole podcast thing but I've found myself listening to them more and more. For those out there looking for some decent ones, try theses two:

- For fellow Canadian political junkies out there, check out the Bloggers Hotstove. Hosted by Greg Staples (of Political Staples), he gathers bloggers from across the spectrum to discuss issues that have come up during the week. The result is a reasoned and respectful debate of the ideas and policies in question.

- For my fellow Canuck fans, swing by thecrazycanucks.com and check out their weekly podcasts. Each week 4 or 5 canucks bloggers get together and discuss what's happened with our beloved team. Members include Alanah from vancouvercanucksoped.com (one of my favourite blogs, and in fact the first blog I can remember visiting) and JJ from the Canucks Hockey Blog, along with others.

3. Finally, as you may have noted in my last post, requests and/or ideas for posts are welcome. Heck, they're greatly appreciated. It lets me be kinda lazy in not having to decide what to post on.

Decorum in Politics, Hah!

2006-10-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I wasn't planning on doing a post on this subject but I recently had a reader ask me to post about my thoughts on the Belinda Stronach / Peter MacKay kerfuffle. And since I pretty much do whatever my readers ask (within reason, unless the money's right), here we go.

My initial reaction to this when I first heard this was, oh man they're up to it again. What I mean by this is that our elected representatives have regressed again to level of schoolchildren in debate. Now, this in no way excuses MacKay's comment. I think Mr. MacKay is still smarting from the public break-up the two had and needs to get past it. And by no means should he have made that statement in the House (or in any sort of public setting). But seriously, I think all of us have probably said some nasty things about ex's that we've had, but 1) not in public and 2) more than likely to someone that is not going to repeat to the other party.

When the first reports came out on MacKay's words, the Liberal Party was pretty mute on the issue. Only after a day or so did the outrage begin to grow, giving the appearance that they had figured the political gains that could be made. Debate then descended to a "did not" / '"did too" level. And then we had a statement in the House from Ms. Stronach (ht to Olaf and CTV for the transcripts):

"'Mr. Speaker yesterday during question period the minister of foreign affairs used a very inappropriate word to describe me,' Stronach said, adding that those kinds of comments have a "chilling" effect on women who contemplate entering politics. 'For that Mr. Speaker, I simply ask that the minister of foreign affairs apologize to this House,' she said to a round of applause."

I agree with her on the first point. The second point, well I'm not so sure as I'm not a woman and can't really say what effect it might have. And she is right in asking for an apology. She then made this comment to reporters later:

"I am even more disappointed today as I reflect on the character of this government, we saw it during question period, no one is willing to take responsibility for this and I am worried for the women of Canada how this kind of attitude translates into policy development and the actions that this government is taking."

Ah ha, now to score some political points. Peter MacKay makes sexist comment, MacKay is Tory, therefore the Conservatives and their policies must be sexist. Nevermind that a Liberal (former Defense Minister Doug Young to Reform MP Deb Grey) had done much the same in the past.

Make no mistake, I think MacKay should have immediately apologized, even if he doesn't think it was that big of a deal. But the words "I'm sorry" and "I was wrong" seem to be anathema to politicians nowadays. Hence the need for this proposal from two NDP MP's Joe Comartin and Dawn Black to punish MP's that cannot act like adults in the House. Its a good idea (yes I said that, even though it is a NDP idea) but I think the fact we need it at all is a pretty sad commentary on the state of political discourse in Canada.

Garth and the Greens

2006-10-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

Well all the kerfuffle around Garth Turner's expulsion from the Conservative party and speculation about what he's going to do has led me to take a closer look at the Green Party.

I'll admit, Elizabeth May had already piqued my interest in the party but I hadn't taken a really good look at the party and their policy platform. Well, I had a couple of hours to spare this morning and decided to take a read through it (you can Word or pdf copies here). In the past, I saw the Greens a single issue party and that was the way their platform was based. But I have to admit, they have done a pretty good job of applying their principles to develop a well-thought out and coherent policy platform. Of course I don't agree with all of it, but then again I've never seen a single party platform that I completely agreed with (although the BPofC platform comes pretty close).

However, there is one part of the platform I have some rather serious concerns with. That would be their proposal to shift more of our freight shipping from trucks and over to rail. I can see and agree with the argument against trucks but I don't know if it is economically feasible to switch. Guess it's the fiscal conservativeness in me coming out but the money that would be needed to improve our rail lines to handle this increase would have to be astronomical. Guess we'll have to wait and see what Canadians are willing to pay for.

What does this all have to do with Garth? Well, as many of you know, Elizabeth May extended an offer to him to join the Green Party. If he takes her up on the offer, that would then allow May to participate in the leader's debate before the next election. This would allow the Green's to finally be able to get their message to general public and introduce some fresh ideas into the political discussion occurring amongst the electorate. To quote Martha Stewart, "and that's a good thing".

UPDATE:

National Newswatch is reporting that Garth has decided to join the Greens (ht Dante). However, it was an anonymous tip and neither Garth nor Elizabteh May has confirmed the report so far.

UPDATE:

Garth Turner has announced he won't be joining the Green Party for now, but wouldn't rule out doing so in the future (ht to Robert).

Well, its here now

2006-10-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I was talking about PM Harper's announcement on proposed changes to the dangerous offender legislation. Well today, the Justice Minister Vic Toews tabled the bill in the House (ht to David Akin). Halifax's Chronicle Herald and the Toronto Sun have articles on it. For those of you out there interested in reading the full text of the bill, I did some digging on the Parliament of Canada's website and found it for you here.

Not as much of blog response to the tabling yet, at least compared to when the announcement was made. Then again the Garth Hunter thing has kind of obliterated everything else out there. A few criticisms have come out though, check 'em out here and here.

Bit of a side note, work and school have slowed down my posting a bit. But if your looking for some good reads, I encourage you to check the guys (and girls) in my blogroll. Especially Andrew @ bound by gravity, Olaf @ Prairie Wranglers and Steve @ Far and Wide. Scott Feschuk does a pretty humorous news round up as well.

Third times a Charm

2006-10-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

In Toronto today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the government will introduce legislation next regarding dangerous offenders (ht to Robert @ MyBlahg). The proposed bill would see someone deemed a dangerous offender after their 3rd time convicted of a violent and/or sexual crime. CBC has a report as well as the G & M.

Now, I think we still need to wait and see the legislation in full but so far, this sounds like a great idea. Anything that can be done to remove repeat violent offenders from the streets is a good thing in my opinion. So far the reaction in the blogosphere to the announcement has been mixed, mostly (and unsurprisingly) along strict partisan lines, but with some exceptions.

There seems to be two main criticisms against this plan, one that is typical of the Harper = Bush/ anti-american crowd, and then one which is actually well reasoned. The first is that this is simply a copy of the Three Strikes laws introduced in various states (most notably in California). This law differs from those in that it only applies to those that have committed 3 violent crimes, instead of any 3 crimes that many of the american laws cover. The second is that this may fail the "Oakes" test, or the "reverse onus" clause. This is where the burden is shifted to the individual to prove that they are innocent of the offence. Now, I'm no lawyer and I sure as hell won't claim to fully understand constitutional law, so I think we will need to wait and see how exactly the law is written to see if it'll pass the test rather than condemn it beforehand.

Well, why shouldn't she?

2006-10-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

The Ottawa Citizen is reporting that Auditor General Sheila Fraser has had informal discussions with staff on Parliament Hill with regards to an audit of the spending done by our MP's. (h/t to Joel at ProudtobeCanadian.ca)

The article indicates that some MP's aren't too happy with this idea however. It mentions quotes by two MP's opposed, Pat Martin (NDP) and Derek Lee (Liberal). As Martin put it:

"There are internal checks and balances that are subject to the scrutiny of the Canadian people at election time. That's their chance to comment,"

Or Mr. Lee's comment:

"I don't think the auditor general should want to do anything other than that which she is asked to do by statute or by Parliament," Mr. Lee said.
"There will be resistance, I think, among some members for diverse reasons to going through an audit of their individual budgets."

Not all MPs agree though, both Garth Turner (Conservative) and Peter Stoffer(NDP) agreed that "it should be open." And communications officer Isabelle Serrurier said the Fraser has the authority under the Auditor General's Act and the Financial Administration Act to conduct the audit of Parliament.

Now, I'm of the opinion that we Canadians should have every opportunity to see how our MP's are spending OUR money. But I have no doubt there will be great resistance to this audit by members of all of the parties. One can only hope that Sheila is successful in her fight and brings more accountability and openness to the way our money is being spent.

Technorati Tags: Sheila Fraser, Auditor General, Government Spending

When will it end?

2006-10-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

So, the Liberal party has had their "super" weekend and elected their delegates for their Leadership convention. Seems like the end is in sight. What are we at now, Month 82 of 86, in this incredibly long leadership campaign?

First thing I noticed was that somebody actually voted for Volpe. Heck, he even managed to beat out two other candidates (Scott Brison and Martha Hall-Findlay). And he's basically tied with Ken Dryden, who I thought would have had at least a couple of Hab's fans vote for him. For those interested in the unoffical results, check out the Liberal.ca page here. And for some great analysis of the results check out Greg Morrow's blog.

So far, it seems that all this weekend managed to do, was take this from a 8 man (oops, person) race down to a 4 man race. And each one of the different campaign's supporting blogs have been explaining why these results are good for their respective leaders campaign.

And we still have almost two months to go in this thing.

So far, my favourite is Michael Ignatieff and I do hope he wins. Think this comes from the fact that he doesn't come off as your typical politician. He has had some stumbles but many of those seem to stem from the MSM's obsession with 15-30 second sound bites, whereas his positions are more complex and can't be reduced to a one or two sentence answer. I have much more respect for a politician that can explain himself, even if I don't agree with his position, than with one that has so-called "media friendly" quips ready to go. Basically, I'd like to see a politician with a good head on his shoulders, not a goddamn parrot.

Think this all comes back to my pollyanna-ish idea that politics would actually come back to a true debate about ideas and policy, rather than simply attacking the other guy for votes.

An Increase in Western Political Clout?

2006-09-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

First off, just like to apologize for the lack of posts during the last week. Seems that every once in a while, life comes and gets in the way of blogging. But without further ado, here we go.

Saw this article on the CBC website a couple days ago. A recently released StatsCan report shows that for the first time ever, B.C.'s and Alberta's combined population have surpassed that of Quebec. The article then continues on to wonder if this will result in more political power for the West. It certain could, in one respect. And that is through increased representation in both Houses of Parliament that may occur. Currently, B.C. and Alberta currently have 64 seats in the lower House (as opposed to Quebec's 75), while the more glaring discrepancy is in the Senate where B.C. and Alberta have 12 and Quebec has 24 seats. Now the House discrepancy I believe will take of itself the redistribution and allocating of new seats over time. However the Senate may take a little longer, then again maybe not. One proposal out there to correct this is the Murray-Austin amendment.

However, this may not really increase the West's political clout. And the reason for that is due to who else, Ontario. Ontario, with its 106 seats, is still the main objective for any party trying to come to power under our "first past the post" system. And many in Ontario are much more concerned with (and closer to) those in Quebec and issues affecting Quebec. So sure, we might get a few more seats out here, but will anyone be listening?

And a few little tidbits I've found in my wanderings on the net:

I encourage you to check out the Praire Wrangler's "interesting" daily news round-ups. Just remember to take everything he says with a grain of salt (heck you'll need more than a grain, try a whole handful).

Looks like the Liberal Party has fined Joe Volpe $20,000 for signing up dead people. Werner Patels and Steve over at Far and Wide have some great commentary on the issue.

Finally DazzlinDino over at the Blogging Party of Canada has this hilarious clip of a little Irish girl's solution for her teachers giving her too much homework.

Technorati Tags: B.C., Alberta, Quebec

Give it up already

2006-09-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

Looks like good ol' Joe could be up to something again (h/t Prairie Wrangler). The Liberal Party is currently investigating a complaint from Montreal's Papineau riding regarding new members signed up by Volpe. It appears a significant number of the new members had not paid their membership fees or filled out their membership forms themselves. The complaint is still under investigation, so its possible that there is nothing to this but given Volpe's previous track record it wouldn't suprise me. The Volpe campaign has denied this (of course) and says "[t]his is dirty political games being played by the other camps." Now the final paragraph states that only one other candidate managed to recruit a large number of members (Ignatieff) but there were "no anomalies" found. So it is possible that one campaign is trying to cause problems for Volpe. Guess we'll just have to wait and find out.

There is one thing above all else that bothers me about Volpe and his leadership campaign. And its the fact that he is using this purely for personal gain. He doesn't have a chance of winning (at least I hope not) but will play a huge role in the determination of who eventually wins. Many already see him as the "kingmaker" who will give his delegates to the highest bidder. And god only knows what he'll be promised to get those votes.

Finally, Jason Cherniak noticed an interesting similarity between Joe Volpe and Francis Griffin (Peter's dad on Family Guy).

UPDATE:
The Toronto Star has done some more digging into this issue. Appears a few of the new members the Volpe campaign signed up are no longer with us. One of them passed away nearly 17 years ago.

Also, this story is beginning to gain some traction in the blogosphere, check out these great posts on the issue:
Far and Wide
Nate Dawg
And CTV's Parliament correspondent David Akin

Technorati Tags: Joe Volpe, Liberals, Papineau

Swearing an oath to Canada?

2006-09-19T15:27:00.000-07:00

Pat Martin, NDP MP for Winnipeg-Centre, has come out with a great idea. Yes I know, I've actually admitted the NDP had a good idea. Anyways, Martin has said he intends to table a private members bill in the House of Commons to require every sitting MP to swear an oath to Canada (ht to Praire Wrangler). Now as some of you may or may not be aware, currently an MP is required (by the Constitution) to swear an oath to the Queen but only to the Queen. His bill would amend the Parliament of Canada act requiring the following oath to be read:

"I, (name), do swear (or solemnly affirm) that I will be loyal to
Canada and that I will perform the duties of a member of the House of
Commons honestly and justly."

If a MP refused to take the oath, they would be prohibited from sitting in the House and would be stripped of their parliamentary budgets (including their salaries). Tom Brodbeck (who wrote the Winnipeg Sun article) notes that this type of legislation has been introduced before in 2003 and made it to a 2nd reading before Parliament was dissolved.

Now obviously this is meant to hurt the Bloc Quebecois, whose goal is the breakup of Canada. And this seems to be Martin's intent:

"If you won't swear an oath of absolute loyalty and allegiance to
Canada, then you have no business sitting in the Canadian House of
Commons," Martin, the MP for Winnipeg-Centre, told the Sun. "We'll fill
your chair with someone who loves this country instead."

Personally I see this as a no-brainer and hope it passes. But one must wonder if it will. The cynic in me observes that many of the bills the Conservatives have passed have only gotten through due to BQ support. If this bill passes, many in the BQ may be opposed to helping the Conservatives get anything else passed. Many accuse/praise Stephen Harper for being a very shrewd politician, would he see this bill as an obstacle? Although his western Canadian base would see this as a must pass issue. Then again, I think this bill would pass with support from all of the parties (minus the BQ obviously) w/o the Conservatives having to take much of a lead on it.

Another issue this brings up is: What happens to those seats? If a Bloc MP is elected and refuses to take the oath, does this seat remain unfilled? Or is another by-election called? And then what happens if the same MP is elected? And what happens in the case of large number of MP-elects refusing to take the oath, does this then affect majority/quorom status in the House?

If any one understands Parliamentary procedure better than I do (which isn't very well) some clarifaction would be greatly appreciated.

Technorati Tags: NDP, Pat Martin, Bloc Quebecois

Parkdale-High Park By-election

2006-09-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

So today is the day when we find out if the Liberal smear machine was effective. Here's the Elections Ontario page, which states they'll have live results at 8 pm (guessing thats EST (or is it EDT?)). The G&M's Karen Howlett has a story today about the race along with this CBC article from yesterday. To hear both Sylvia Watson and Dalton McGuinty dismiss this nasty attack on another candidate makes on wonder about the fortunes of the Ontario Liberals. Could they be growing a little to close to the habits of their federal counterparts? When will politicians realize that this stuff disgusts the voting public?

And now, a few blogs with posts on the by-election:

James Bow has a great post on the attacks against Cheri DiNovo.
J Kelly at On the Fence has yet another (h/t James Bow)
Another from Steve at Nice Comfy Fur.
Mark at Ottawa Watch has a post criticizing Kinsella's role in this whole affair.
BigCityLib has one on Kinsella and another regarding McGuinty's role.
Canadian Cerberus has a post on another of her articles. (Here's the full article)
Toronto Mike has a great post on the Homolka sermon (including the sermon in its entirety).
Finally Lobster Thermidor has a great post on how this reflects on Sylvia Watson.

One notices, that after starting this whole thing with Cerberus and Kinsella, Jason Cherniak has been conspicously absent in recent days on this topic.

Well, I guess all we can do now is wait and see what the voters of Parkdale-High Park decide.

UPDATE:
Damn, knew I forgot someone. Greg at democraticSPACE has an interesting prediction on the results.

UPDATE:
Alright, just got home and checked the Elections Ontario page. Unoffically, Cheri DiNovo has won the riding with 41% of the vote (33% for Watson (Lib) and 17% for Hutcheon (Con)).

Technorati Tags: Cheri DiNovo, NDP, Liberals, Parkdale, High Park

Layton and the Military

2006-09-13T21:03:00.001-07:00

Would somebody please give Jack Layton a refresher class on the military and how it works. In a interview with CBC radio, Layton suggested that the troops in Afghanistan would be better used protecting our coastline from foreign fishermen (h/t Chimera for the story).

Now, most of the men and women over in Afghanistan are soldiers, part of the Army, which generally refers to the Land element of a countries armed forces. To have the CF take on more of a role we would need more seamen (yeah I know, haha), part of the Navy, or the Sea element of the forces. There is no way that one could take those serving in Afghanistan and assign them to this new role, not without a serious amount of retraining (probably slightly less than training a brand new recruit in the Navy). These service members are not interchangeable and can't be switched between missions willy-nilly. Mark at The Torch has a piece on this issue as well.

Also to those on the left that were criticizing the Conservative's efforts at protecting our sovereignty in the North as unnecessary, it appears that Jack doesn't agree with you (from the same article):

"We feel a big part of our role should be our sovereignty issues, such as up North, and also in dealing with the fishing with fleets off our coastline who are coming in and destroying the ecosystems," he said.

Will they ever learn?

2006-09-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I never thought I'd see a Liberal work so hard to get a dipper elected. Actually so far its been Jason Cherniak (here, here, here and here, plus some I've missed), Cerberus, and Warren Kinsella. From reading the comments on Cherniak's blog, he appears to have single-handedly raised at least $1000 (rough estimate) for the DiNovo campaign, including a $200 donation from a couple in Saskatchewan. And he's convinced at least one person in her riding to vote for her and probably more. James Bow, Politblogo and BigCityLib have some excellent posts concerning this issue. I guess we should all be happy that this slimy partisan attack on another candidate seems to have backfired(link goes to a G&M article).

For all the talk of cleaning up politics and election campaigns, it appears that at least the Liberals haven't been paying attention.

UPDATE:
Greg Morrow at democraticSPACE has a great breakdown on the by-election, including predictions, past results and new articles about the race.

Blogging, Partisans and Voters

2006-09-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Ever have a problem trying to figure how to start a post?

This article by DazzlinDino and this one at democracticSPACE.com plus a conversation I had with a friend recently got me thinking on this issue.

One thing I've always liked doing was educating others on politics. During the last election, a friend of mine told me that I was the reason she was reading up on the issues and voting. And I got a big kick out of that (too bad she didn't vote for my guy).

To someone new to politics and the blogosphere and trying to learn more, its a pretty ugly scene to look upon. The screeching from those on all sides of the debate can be pretty intimidating. The semi-anonymous nature of blogging and commenting only serve to amplify this, given that many people don't apply the same amount of control they use when talking in public. And this only heightens the negative view that most have of politics in general.

Now, I'm not painting all bloggers with the same brush. There are a lot of bloggers out there with well-reasoned arguments that refrain from partisan attacks. Where the debates on the issue at hand don't dissolve into name-calling and other nonsense. Its just quite the mess to wade through to find it. For the average voter, its just not worth the trouble.

Technorati Tags: Partisan, Blogging

Red-Ribbon?

2006-09-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

Last week, the Liberal Party's Red Ribbon Task Force released its report, entitled "A party built for everyone, A party built to win". They detailed several challenges facing the party and what should be done about them. (Check it out here)

A few things jumped out at me right off the bat. One regarded Bill C-24 passed during the Chretien government. Seems that the Liberals, even though they brought it in, are having the worst time adapting to the changes it brought about. The task force comes out to say that the Party has always been one of large corporate donations (did you really need a task force to figure that one out?) and that other parties have been much quicker at coping with the changes.

They go on further to talk about Bill C-2 from the Harper government. To quote the authors: (pg 10 in the report)

The Conservatives claim that this is being done for reasons of "accountability". However, Liberals should be under no illusion that this Bill C-2 is anything but a blatant attack aimed squarely at our Party's political jugular. We can, and must, respond.

I don't know but when I read this a picture pops into my head of the schoolyard bully crying when the other kids finally stand up to him and give him the beatdown he deserves. One other thing I think needs pointing out, Harper has a minority government, which means it wasn't just the Conservatives that passed the bill.

Of course there is the talk about a return to the "grass roots" but seriously, is there a single political party that hasn't talked about getting back to its "roots" in the last decade?

An interesting point (or "inconvenient truth" as they term it) is the acknowledgement that the rules in nomination contests are skewed to favour one candidate over another. WOW, really, wouldn't have thought that. This has been going on for a while now, glad to see you guys have at least finally admitted it. Now if only we can get the other parties to recognize this fact as well. As much as I don't like the idea of growing the bureaucracy it seems like Elections Canada should be supervising these to larger extent.

Elizabeth May and the Greens

2006-09-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

I had the oppurtunity to catch Elizabeth May on Michael Smyth's "Nightline" on CKNW last night. And I have to admit, I'm impressed. She spoke well, articulating her points and coming across as a well reasoned person, unlike the stereotypical enviro you think of, running around like Chicken Little swearing the sky is falling.

Most of us by now have heard about the fact she doesn't carry a cell phone. Michael brought that up last night, right at the beginning of the interview. It was the way she answered the question that impressed me the most. She explained that it had to with the EMF's (electro magnetic fields) generated by them and the possibility of health risks. However, she did state several times that the reports she had seen were unconfirmed. She just said she personally felt more comfortable not taking the chance and I can't really argue against that.

She also brought up something I've had a problem with for awhile. Why is the Green Party excluded from the leadership debates? Alright, I know that the TV networks have stated that the rule is you must have a seat in the House of Commons to be in. BS, I say. To paraphrase Michael from last night, "if I'm paying to support you, I wanna hear what you have to say" refering to the fact that the Green Party will receive a little over a million dollars of taxpayer money for getting 4.5% of the vote in the recent election(due to the campaign finance reform under Chretien). CBC carries the debate, right? And we, the taxpayers, are footing the bill there, aren't we? If Bell and co. don't want to carry the Greens we can't do much, but I think with enough public support we can get at least CBC to include them.

Technorati Tags: Elizabeth May, Green Party, CBC

Good ol' Jack

2006-09-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

Now I know where Jack Layton wants to get the troops for Lebanon from: Afghanistan.

Typically, he uses the great tactic of anti-americanism to bolster his arguement.

From the article:

"Why are we blindly following the defence policy prescriptions of the Bush administration?''

and

"Canadians want a foreign policy rooted in fact, not fear,'' he said.
"One that is uniquely independent, not ideologically imported. And one
that leads the world into peace, not follows the U.S. into wars.'"

Now, I maybe be wrong on this but I thought Afghanistan was NATO mission. And before that a UN mission. Unlike the Iraqi quagmire that Bush & Co. have gotten themselves into, the Afghani struggle was not unilaterally initiated. Jack is running around sprouting a modified version of history that suits his politics better, too bad it doesn't agree with reality.

For those interested in a soldiers view of the conflict, look for an interview the retiring RSM Jim Butters of 2(??) PPCLI did on Adler Online. I only heard the repeat of it this afternoon and haven't been able to find it on the net yet but I will post a link as soon as I find it.

For those of with family members and/or close friends serving over in Afghanistan, listening to Layton speak can drive you up the wall. One can only hope that his comments are not given too much weight by everyone else.

UPDATE:

Chris Selley at TartCider has a great take on this as well as Cam at The Natural Society.

I can't think of a good title. Sue me.

2006-08-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

First off, I would like to give my condolences to the family of Benoît Sauvageau, a Bloc MP who died yesterday. I don't agree with his politics at all, but from all reports Canada has lost a good man.

Jack Layton, our NDP leader, seems to always be good for a laugh. I've been having trouble figuring out exactly what his or his parties stance is regarding the Middle East, the "War on Terror" (good Lord do I hate that term), Afghanistan and such. On Sunday, Layton in an interview with Canadian Press said that Canada has the ability to contribute as many as 1200 troops to the "peace-keeping" mission to Lebanon. This info comes from an internal gov't document obtained through AOI laws. Still haven't been able to find a copy of this yet (help us out here Jack).

Now putting aside the various statements coming out of the NDP camp in recent months (removing Hezbollah from the terror list, a confused message on Afghanistan, etc). There are few problems with this statement that seem apparent to me. The first being, how many of these "troops" would actually be useful in that area? One fact often overlooked by those not close to the military, is that many of these numbers include support staff, logistics staff, transport and maintenance personnel. Now these are all essential elements of the CF, but how many of them would be useful in what is effectively a combat zone? Next, if these personnel are in fact combat troops we need to consider their recent deployments. During the last big peace-keeping blitz the Liberals went through in the 90's in the Balkans, Rwanda and elsewhere, many of the troops were being run into the ground by the deployments (as well as bad pay and whole host of other factors I won't get into). Many of these troops have wives, husbands, girl/boyfriends and family back here in Canada. And one can only be seperated from them for so long before they start to get a little resentful of the military for keeping them apart for so long. I believe that after they've put their lives on the line for me, someone they've never met and probably never will, they deserve a decent amount of time with their families. Otherwise I fear we'll hear stories like one from the 90's I remember in particular, where an infantry soldier in the PPCLI had a 7 year old daughter that he had seen for a total of 2 1/2 years. The last fact was pointed out by a friend of mine in conversation we had. Europe has how many people? (approx. 800 million) And how many troops have they contributed? (6900) Now Canada with approx 30 million is going to contribute 1200? We Canadians are a hard-working, resilient group but I think this might be a little much.

Some other tidbits I gleaned from the internets:

Animal rights protester force UCLA reseacher to quit
Alright you can disagree with the guy and his methods, but terrorizing his family and colleagues? I mean a Molotov cocktail on the doorstep? Reminds me of the pro-lifers killing abortion doc's, still haven't heard a decent explanation for that one.

Christian zealots destroy ancient Arctic petroglpyhs
I've got it. Lets round up all the religious crazies: Christian, Muslim, Jewish, any sort of religious extremist we can find (are there fundamentalist Buddhists?) and ship 'em to Pluto and let them kill each other off (who cares, its not a planet anymore)

Top 10 theories in Physics
For all you other fellow science geeks out there.

Wrong turn in the Drug War

2006-08-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

One of the most pointless so-called "wars" that western governments are fighting, is the "War on Drugs". The Harper government has indicated that it will move towards a more American style in trying to combat drug sales and use. I can only see this as a huge mistake.

By simply arresting the users and dealers, all we are doing is creating a larger class of citizens that now have a criminal record, making it harder for them to get jobs, travel, credit and numerous other things. Meanwhile, the drug trade simply continues to grow. For example, some estimates of BC's marijuana industry put the value of the annual crop at approx. 6 billion dollars a year, making it one of, if not the largest industry in BC. And the organized crime groups that supply this trade continue to grow larger and more powerful.

This underground economy causes other costs that are less obvious. Many a landlord has been hit with a hefty reno bill after a grow-op is discovered in one of their homes. Crystal Meth labs produce incredibly toxic fumes that are a danger to not only the police shutting it down, but the surronding neighbours as well. Many of the "harder" drugs (Heroin, cocaine, etc.) vary in purity and ingredients from batch to batch, increasing the risk of an overdose for an unaware user.

Decriminalization and/or legalization of these drugs seems to be the obvious solution. In my view, legalization of the "soft" drugs like marijuana and such could be coupled with government regulations on sales similar to that of alcohol and tobacco. Age regulations along with large fines for selling to minors would be vital. This would limit the exposure to young people, hopefully increasing the age at which they try it (if at all). This should be coupled with increased punishment on unauthorized selling and/or growing, making it less attractive to criminal organizations overall. That and the government could get a nice tax boost from legal sales.

For harder drugs, decriminalization is the way to go. This should be coupled with increased funding (perhaps from the pot tax) for detox centres to help addicts get clean and on to productive lives. That and the way most detox centres are run would need to be changed to be more effective. AARC, the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre provides a good model to build upon. This approach allows the user to get clean and as well come out without a conviction that could haunt them for the rest of their life. This also creates a drop in demand for the drugs they are using, decreasing the profitability of bringing them into the country.

Our other option is to keep building bigger and better prisons so that we can lock these people up. Personally, I'd like to see the room used to jail the serious threats to us (pedophiles, repeat offenders, etc.) than to jail a bunch of stoners and addicts.

Technorati Tags: marijuana, decriminalization, legalization, war on drugs

Public Works(?)

2006-08-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well this damn near floored me when I read it this morning. Sheila Copps had something nice to say about Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.

I really think that no matter what political stripe you are, you have to be disgusted with what's happening in the Public Works department. This "culture of entitlement" is sickening to anyone who pays taxes.

Now, I don't think the solution is more bureaucracy or another oversight board. What needs to happen is almost a complete upheaval of the entire department. It needs to be torn down to the bare essentials and then rebuilt in a more responsible and accountable fashion. This was priority for the Conservatives during the election. Now, frankly I don't believe that 7 or 8 months is long enough to root the problems in that department (or the rest of the government) but we should hopefully be seeing something happening soon. It'll be a long haul but if they can get it done, as Sheila says "he will accomplish what many before have tried with little success."

Also:

The Globe & Mail has a great article on the CF's mission in the Arctic.

And DazzlinDino over at BPofC has selected a few bloggers he'd like to see in Cabinet positions, check it out and the BPofC's policy platform (now if only they were a real party).

BC's Parks

2006-08-17T15:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I knew it was gonna happen sooner or later.

So far, its been a pretty good 5 years for the BC Liberals. This year has probably been one of their best by far, even if you are only counting the fact that they managed to get all of the public sector unions under contract.

But, I feel this will come to a screeching halt with their Park Lodge strategy, which is calling for the development of lodges/resorts in provincial parks. These lodges are slated to include: pools, tennis courts, golf courses and more.

Numerous campaigns have started up, including the usual environmental group ones. The BC Wildlife Federation (hunter /angler group) has also joined the fight. A few blogs have started to pick up the cause, including frodowm and David Grant.

The Conscious Earth, written by Odiyya, has some of the best coverage I've seen so far. He has a list of the initial 12 parks that have been slated to be developed.

Our parks are one of BC's greatest riches, and should remain that way for our children and their children to enjoy. If these resorts/lodges have to be built then I make the argument, why on park land?

I believe these places could do quite well in the so-called "frontier" or "gateway" communities based near the entrances and exits of each park. Especially as most of these "towns" seen to be simply a few gas stations and maybe a restaurant or two and could probably benefit from some commercial investment. However, this is not public land that can be obtained cheaply by the developers.

I encourage any of you from BC, or that have a had a chance to visit some of our wonderful parks, to please e-mail Premier Gordon Campbell or Environment Minister Barry Penner, or your local MLA (for those in BC) and voice your opposition to this plan.

Technocrati tags:

>BC

>Provincial Parks

>Park Lodge Strategy

I love Lazy Sundays

2006-08-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

Ahh, another great sunny day on the West Coast and its Sunday. Perfect day to sit around, have a beer and try as hard as possible not to do anything constructive.

I don't know if you find the intense partisan bickering and name-calling on blogs(and their comment pages) interesting but if you do, check the Globe & Mail's comment sections. Here's a good one (the story is about the ban on liquids in planes) or this one (about the G-Wagons being used in Afghanistan). I almost always find it to be a pretty good laugh. I imagine it would sound like the elementary school down the street. Good way to waste time too.

Then again, sometimes people take it too far.

Lolly, over at Women in politics, posted an e-mail she received regarding some CF soldiers and the support they got from the public. I don't know if any of you have gotten this but the Red Friday thing is kind of interesting. Wonder if it'll catch on?

We are NOT Americans

2006-08-11T16:45:00.000-07:00

I was reading "What do I Know Grit" and he pointed out an article by Mike Harris in the Ottawa Sun. Now I don't really care about the Liberal leadership race (actually its not that I don't care, its just too boring so far).

My problem is more or less with the comparison to the USA and American politics. Mike Harris is not the only one to do it either. I don't understand why some members of the media in this country seem determined to view everything in Canada as having some parallel in the US. For a country that seems proud of its anti-american stance on many issues (something else I disagree with but...), we sure seem to define ourselves by them a lot.

I think Canada can do just fine on its own. We don't need to define ourselves by using others (unless you define yourself as being pro- or anti- american). People on both sides use this constantly and it just gets tiring. Have some pride people, its your goddamn country for chrissake.

On a different note, I think the Wajid Kahn thing is a good thing for Liberals. Remember, he's the Ontario chair in Joe Volpe's leadership campaign. This can only take away from the time he would spend on Joe's campaign. And that can only be good for the Liberals.

In parting, I'll point you to anyidiotcanhaveablog, where you find out about the real threat we face, nope not terrorists but Bathtubs!!

Blue on Blue

2006-08-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

Canadian Press is reporting that a Canadian soldier has been killed today in Afghanistan. Possibly as a result of accidental discharge by a fellow Canadian.

Canoe.ca has the story by Terry Pedwell.

The military is investigating, so far no timeline for their findings.

A friendly fire incident (or blue on blue contact) is one of the most disturbing things that can happen in the military. Most occur through no fault of either party and the results can often be disastrous on the other person involved and possibly the morale in the unit. Hopefully the CF can quickly find out what happened and try prevent something similar from happening ever again. And I hope they have the soldier involved talking with a psychiatrist to help him deal with this horrific incident. My heart goes out to both the family of MCpl. Jeffrey Scott Walsh and the other soldiers involved.

On a slightly different note, James Bow has an excellent piece that begins Reuters photo scandal, but then goes into a commentary on the eroding level of debate in politics today (thanks to Andrew @ boundbygravity.com for pointing it out).

A whole bunch of randomness

2006-08-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well first off, Declan over at Crawl across the Ocean, is having a bit of spat with his blog. They're in counseling right now, so hopefully things work out for them.

Damian P. at Daimnation! has a excerpt from the Georgia Straight on the Canadian peace movement. Actually its more of condemnation for their support of a active terrorist group.

KevinG at Oddthoughts, found an article discussing a poll released that says the number of americans that believe Saddam had WMD's has increased from 36% to 50% over the last year. As he said, it's "Independant of Reality".

Finally, Celestial Junk has a intriguing post on Afghanistan, the Canadian left, the MSM and whole bunch of others.

UPDATE:

DazzlinDino has a great post IMO, regarding our mission in Afghanistan and how we got there.

The Mainstream Media

2006-08-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

I'm generally supportive of the MSM. However, recent incidents have began to etch away at my support.

The CBC, always rumored to have a left-leaning slant, was caught quite red-handed by Stephen Taylor. Now, I have never really liked the CBC, but not for its politics. My problem was with the perceived Eastern (read Toronto) bias to their news/sports/anything coverage. Seeing stuff like this only makes one wonder why the taxpayers are still on the hook for these guys.

The other coverage I had a huge problem with was of the evacuation of Canadians out of Lebanon. For either the press, or the evacuees to expect 1st class service during an evacuation out of a WAR ZONE, is to me, insane. However, most of the coverage went to these whiners. One of my favourite quotes I heard was: "There was no A/C". Really? Thats a damn shame.

The Middle East and Extremism

2006-07-30T23:45:00.000-07:00

Well the current situation in the Middle East (more specifically, Israel's invasion of Lebanon) has taken centre stage in political discussion, derailing the fisheries issues for the time being.

I currently don't have a position on the current conflict. I'm neither pro- or anti-Israeli/Lebanese or whatever. The reason for this is I don't believe I know enough about the issue to take a position. However, I have been attempting to educate myself further about this issue.

In my attempts, I have found some very disturbing commentary out there.

A few posters at the Western Standard's Shotgun Blog, spout some rather hate filled speech at not just the Fundamentalist Muslims that are causing the current problems. Instead, they argue that all of Islam is evil.

A few quotes:

"Islam is not a race, it's a disgusting, cruel and dangerous socio-political ideology that must be destroyed.
Islam has no place in Canada and Islam lovers like you don't have a clue how evil Islam is."

"There's only one policy that can work:
1) Restrict Muslim immigration
2) Muslims here must assimilate"

"The Muslims are the worst problem Canada is facing now.

The solution is to restrict their immigration and expect them to assimilate.

Watch the news people.... almost every day the Muslims are involved in terrorism, murder, protests, support of terrorists, electing terrorist, etc. etc.

We had enough with the Muslims, we have better things to do. Just stop bringing them to this Country."

This is disturbing on a whole new level. You could almost trace the problems in the Middle east to views similar to that. Israel came into being after WWII, partially as a result of the Holocaust, which occurred after a nation was convinced that Jews were evil and should be eradicated. This is turn displaced the Palestinians and its been a rather rough 60 odd years since.

One can only hope those people stay in the minority. One hopes that the public in general can distinguish between elements of race/religion/cult/etc. that are evil and what not, and the race/religion/etcetera.

UPDATE:

It was pointed out to me that I should mention that the comments I highlighted are not in the majority of the discussion occuring at the Shotgun Blog. I chose these comments to emphasize some of the material I found that concerned me.

Some more musings

2006-07-14T00:12:00.000-07:00

Figured I start with a brief explanation of my feelings on the fisheries issues came about. I grew up in a fishing town in BC. We have lots of fishermen on both sides of the issue here (native and non-native). Although I can remember when that distinction didn't exist. They were all just fishermen. They suffered in the hard times and prospered together in the good times. Then the DFO came up with this a idea and immediately created tension within this previously tight community. Native fishermen have told me privately that they also disagree with the current policy as it has driven a wedge between former friends.

Not much news yet out there on the issue so far.

MSM: The Globe and Mail

Blogs:

For: Mark Peters

Against: Stageleft

Also while I was wandering around on the net I found a gem that I thought I'd share. I try and stop by Liblogs on a regular basis to keep up on that side of things. Between them and Warren Kinsella, I discovered a great new blog out there. Called The Frog Lady, she has been making these hilarious South Park pictures of the Liberal leadership candidates.

An End to Race Based Fisheries?

2006-07-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

This is a bit of an issue for me. Out here in B.C. we've had a bit of a problem with our salmon stocks. For a while, absolutely no fishing was allowed, then it was decided that some commerical fishing would be allowed. It was at this point that the DFO amongst others came up with the fanastic idea of native-only fishing. This was intended to be used for ceremonial purposes only. But gradually more and more of the salmon was being sold.

I oppose this policy just because of the idea of a race-based fisheries bothers me. I don't believe that any one group of fisherman should be allowed to earn a living while another goes without. Especially because that one group is chosen solely on the basis of their race.

Well it appears that Stephen Harper agrees with my views, Canada.com has a story about his plan. This has also been a reason I support my MP, John Cummins, because of his work in bringing attention to this issue.

Not much in the media and/or blogs yet, but I expect this while be getting quite a bit of press in the comings days and months ahead. I can only hope that they are successful. Stay tuned for updates.

Whatever happened to civil disagreements?

2006-06-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

I know it seems like a long time ago. But I'm sure most of us can remember when a political argument didn't immediately devolve into shrill shrieking from either side. A time when the parties in parliament could actually work together to get something done, instead of personal attacks on each other and their party. I don't know maybe I'm being a little pollyanna-ish but I still hope that maybe one day that could happen again.

Larry Zolf, of the CBC, is the one of the latest to launch another attack. He goes on a rant about how PM Stephen Harper is a bigger neo-con that Bush, etcetera. This is not only limited to the left though. The right can be just as bad. Bound by Gravity has a great take on it.

One can only hope we don't descend to the level (if we haven't already) of many of the US media outlets. Be it the Wall Street Journal, Salon.com, the Weekly Standard or DailyKos.

I consider myself a centrist or a small c Conservative. But I have voted Liberal. A lot of the time, I don't totally agree with policies put forth by the government and can appreciate some aspects of the oppositions argument. But all too frequently the situation turns into a "my way or the highway" type argument. I don't know but I always thought that compromise plays a huge part in resolving disputes.

The Liberal Leadership Race

2006-06-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

Well maybe this is gonna be more fun than I thought. This Joe Volpe thing just will not die a quiet death, much to the dismay of many in the Liberal party. Already, a few Liberals are starting to call for him to drop out of the race, realizing that this is only reinforcing many Canadians impression of the Liberal party. The National Post has also thrown in its opinion as well.

As well, his campaigns heavy handed tactics in shutting down the youthforjoevolpe.com website has backfired quite badly. Blue Blogging Soapbox has listed several mirrors that sprung up almost immediately after the site was taken down. This episode gives the appearance that the Liberals are trying to stifle free speech, as the registrar of the site took it down after being threatened with legal action by Volpe's campaign. Stephen Taylor has many of the details of the whole thing. A group of bloggers has begun calling out Volpe on the censorship issue, I encourage you to check them out (near the bottom of the article).

One issue that has been brushed aside in this whole deal is the loans that many of the campaigns received. This includes loans made by Ken Dryden and Martha Hall Findlay made to themselves(read more about it here). Now this confuses me, how exactly do you make a loan to yourself? Because I could really use a new car. There is also the fact that several of the candidates received rather large loans from some prominent businessmen and the possibility that these loans won't have to be paid back. Hopefully more details on this will emerge soon.

Harper's First Mis-step?

2006-06-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

CTV, theglobeandmail.com and Canadian Press are all reporting that Stephen Harper has promised a free vote on same sex marriage when the House opens in the fall. First question that comes to mind is why? Why would Harper do this while his government is doing so well?

One reason is because of a campaign promise made during election. Now, many are surprised at this, as politicians make promises all the time that are immediately forgotten after the election is over. So once again Harper has shown he is a man of his word.

However, the fact the election promise was made at all is a disappointment to me. Another bit of a goody for the so-cons in the party, I guess. The fact that the vote is a free vote and not a party-line vote is a good thing though. This allows (hopefully) for the true voice of the people to be heard. It also will show that the Conservative party is not the only one with MP's that don't support gay marriage. Make sure to watch which Liberals and/or NDPer's vote against gay marriage(or are suspiciously absent on the day of the vote). Hopefully this issue can then finally be resolved and we can get on with important issues, like running the country.

Also, Dante over at Uncommon Truths, has managed to recreate the "Youth for Volpe" spoof site that was pulled down, check it out if you never got a chance to see the original.

"Oh S***, maybe I screwed up"

2006-06-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

Quick update on the Volpe thing. CTV and theglobeandmail.com are reporting that Volpe will be returning 5 of the Apotex family donations, specifically the ones from the children. Alright, where do I start. He still messed up real bad in accepting these donations and the 2-3 days of arguing that there was nothing wrong with them makes this seem that much worse. Wouldn't be surprised to see some members of his staff let go after this thing. Also, some sources say the Elections Canada is investigating and charges are a possibility. Also the fact remains that close to 70% of his donations came from executives at one company.

Now the NDP and Conservatives are having a great time with this, further damaging the Liberal name (not that its worth much anymore), including this great quote from John Baird, president of the Treasury Board:

"While some frontbench members of the Liberal Party were canvassing kindergarten classes, shaking down young children for campaign donations, this team was hard at work providing good government to this country"

Meanwhile, the Liberals believe that their rules on campaign financing don't need to be changed, Steve McKinnon, Liberal Party national director, has said the fact the public outcry resulted in the return of the donations shows that there is a safeguard against bad conduct. I don't know, maybe its just me, but it seems like a good idea politically to ensure this doesn't or can't happen again.

Good ol' Liberals

2006-06-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

Well before I get to the Liberals, just wanted to mention a bill the Conservatives will be introducing soon. It proposes to raise the age of consent to 16 (from 14) but will include a so called "close in age" exemption, where if the two people are within 5 years of each other then no problem. I support this solely on a child protection basis. It has been reported that Canada is known in pedophilic circles because you can get away with having sex with 14 year olds (instead of 16 or higher in other countries).

Now to the Liberals. First off the Libs are planning a "vent" session where they will discuss what went wrong in the last election campaign. It'll include both MP's and staffers that worked on the campaign. This sounds like a good idea, but I have a bad feeling that this'll end up being a bitch session at the people who worked on the election team, especially since the main leaders of the election effort will not be present. These people just worked hard and did what they were told to do, and now they're gonna get yelled at?

And then there is Joe Volpe, candidate for the Liberal leadership, and the news coming out about some of the donations he has received. Due to changes in the Election act, donations are no longer allowed from corporations and personal contributions cannot exceed $5,400. Well, Joe has received 20 donations, all at the maximum amount, from current and former executives of the company Apotex (Canada's largest generic-drug maker). This includes two donations from the former vice-president's twin 11 year old daughters. I don't know about you but at 11, I sure as hell would not have donated that much money to a politician, probably would have been gorging myself on candy or something instead. You would think that with all of the recent fuss over corruption and everything else he would have better sense. But then again, sometimes it seems some people never learn.

I honestly think that the Liberals will be shut out of power until they learn from the scandals they caused, and clean their house of all of the people that think this kind of thing is ok. Some partisans argue this is a symptom of the members of the "natural governing party's" arrogance and lust for power. I don't see it this way, but who knows? All I know is that the country will run better when our two major political parties aren't worried about their own problems and instead can hold governing party to account and provide an effective opposition.

The Press and an Election Question

2006-05-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah, I apologize for not updating in long time. Oh well, sometimes I get lazy. Anyways, I think I'll try and keep the posts smaller but more often.

Two issues on my mind right now. The first is the tiff that PM Stephen Harper and the Ottawa press gallery are having right now. The whole thing revolves around Harper and his aides saying they would control who got to ask questions, instead of the free-for-all that currently happens. The press decided they wouldn't put up with that and left the press conference. Harper and crew now say that they will instead talk to local reporters instead of the national news guys.

Alright, first off, who (outside of Ottawa) even cares about this? Frankly, the whole thing is bloody ridiculous but that's Canada eh. Hopefully both groups will take a timeout and then get back to real work (ie. running the country and/or reporting on that).

The other issue is Harper's recent announcement of his plan to introduce fixed election dates. I think this is a great idea. This takes the timing of the election out of the hands of the party in power. Currently, most governments wait for the most politically opportune time to call an election, this legislation takes that power away. This will not, however, keep the government in power after losing a confidence vote. If that were to happen, an election would be called and then the next one would be set 4 years from that date. We have this provincially in BC, and so far it hasn't caused any problems. I'm interested in what sort of stance the Liberals will take on this, as they have been some of the worst on manipulating election dates (remember Chretien back in 2000 after just over 3 years since the previous election). Well I guess one can only wait and see what happens.

The 39th Parliament and side note

2006-03-19T21:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I'll start with the side note and progress onto the Parliament. NDP MP's are upset with one of their own. Former MP, Bev Desjarlais, has taken a position with Veteran's Affairs Minister, Greg Thompson. I guess they have trouble understanding how one might set aside partisan issues to work for the betterment of the people. NDP Caucus Chairwoman, Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North), had this to say: "It's hard to understand how Bev could have gone from being an active New Democrat to actually supporting and upholding the Stephen Harper agenda. [It] is just mind-boggling and very disappointing." Not everybody has the same opinion however. MP Peter Stoffer, NDP foreign affairs critic, was quite congratulatory and happy for her. For more details, check out this Globe and Mail article.

On another note, the 39th Parliament of Canada opens on April 3rd. PM Stephen Harper has indicated there a 5 major priorities that they hope to work on during this session of the House. These are as follows: The introduction of a Federal Accountability Act, a reduction in the GST (a .5% cut seems likely), a crackdown on crime, child care and a Patient Wait Times Guarantee agreement with the provinces. In the next couple of weeks, I'm going to go over each point and break them down into what we might actually see and what it could mean for Canada.

The War on Terror (Canadian Style)

2006-03-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

Been following news on the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. Sadly, we have already lost a few soldiers to attacks as well as accidents. However, I know our guys and girls over there are ok with that. One of my friends is over there right now, and he told me earlier that he's accepted the fact he could die. He said that was something they all accepted when they signed up.

Nice to see our PM make a visit to the troops as well. I had mentioned the possibility earlier, nice to see they actually went through with it. I've been waiting a long time for our government to support our troops. And not just with words, like the Liberals did, but with actual actions and money. I firmly believe that the Conservatives will do this. Many of my friends are either in the military or have served recently and the biggest complaint they all had was that they knew the people of Canada supported them but the government didn't seem to give a damn about them.

My final point tonight is that Jack Layton is an idiot. I was listening to Charles Adler on the radio and he had Jack on as a guest. He started talking about how the Canadian public had no idea that the troops in Afghanistan would actually be fighting and dying. That we thought it was a peace-keeping mission. Has he had his head in the sand for the last six months? The military and the government have made it very clear that this mission was going to be different from any recent missions they've conducted. Layton also mentioned Bush's name a couple of times. Now maybe its just me being cynical but it seemed he was trying to somehow play this up as the whole Harper is Bush's best friend thing again. But it wasn't the Conservatives that approved this, it was the Liberals. Just seems to me like the NDP is drifting ever farther away from the mainstream of Canadian opinion, and Layton's whistling away to himself as the party becomes less and less relevant to more people. I'm all for a strong left-wing in Canada but recently the NDP has become a little too strange for me (I maybe a little biased however, I do live in BC and had to deal with the NDP here in the 90's, and all the BS that happened).

Olympics and .. uh .. not much else

2006-02-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

Well, have to apologize for not posting in a while. Been kinda hunkered down watching the Olympics. Been great watching Canada pick up so many medals. Yeah, yeah, I know we didn't win the gold medal in hockey, but when you look at it, is it really that big of a deal? I really don't think the fact we didn't win hockey gold should overshadow how well the rest of our athletes did over in Turin. I have to admit when I heard the COC's (canadian olympic comm.) goal to win 25 medals this time, I was pretty skeptical that it was possible. But then our athletes go and surprise the hell out of us and just start racking up the medals. Should be interesting in 2010 and I can't wait.

Politically, seems things have calmed down a little. Emerson's still hiding out in his riding, and Harper lost his director of communications. Other than that, pretty quiet for a brand new government. The Liberals just need to hurry up and get a new leader. Should be rather interesting to hear comments from all of the "frontrunners" in the coming months on the various policies proposed by Harper and company.

Finally, one interesting item I've come across lately.

Harper to visit Kandahar

Now I think this is a good idea. It shows support for the military, something that has been sorely lacking from past Liberal governments. Also, if Harper does take this trip and makes it his first international trip, that sends a big message internationally (especially to the US). This would allow him to go down to the US and say, "hey, look, we're part of the war on terror, too". This could help in solving the growing number of trade disputes with have with our neighbour to the South. And unlike a lot of Canadians, I don't see it as a horrible thing to be a little bit closer and/or friendlier to our biggest trading partner.

2006-02-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

So, Harper has named his new cabinet and surprise, surprise, there is already controversy. Namely with David Emerson and Michael Fortier. The appointment of Fortier to Senate and giving him a cabinet post is not that big a deal, in my opinion. There is ample precedent for this type of situation, especially when it comes to balanced representation in Cabinet. The conservatives seem to be the only ones that have a huge problem with this one.

The bigger problem is with the appointment of David Emerson. The whole situation smacks of political oppurtunism. Unfortunately for Emerson, I think most of peoples disgust is going to be focused on him and not the Conservatives. The party can always use the representation reason to deflect criticism. And I find that I partially agree with it. Vancouver is one of the big three cities in Canada, and I think we need someone voicing our concerns in Cabinet. But for Emerson, it's really starting to look like he went against the wishes of his constituents. Especially since the conservative guy in his riding finished a pretty distant 3rd. I'm not sure if he should resign yet, but I am starting to lean that way, the more I learn about the situation.

And now for something completely different....

Why the hell can't the Canucks be the goddamn St. Louis Blues? They are the worst team in the league (or maybe its Pittsburgh this week, anyways whatever). I hate to say it, but if this team doesn't sharpen up and fast, they're gonna have yet another disappointing playoff run again. And then I think they are going to start losing fans. Not me, but I know that some people are starting to get turned off by them. Especially the fact that they don't seem to be playing with any heart.

Well at least I can watch two teams with a ton of heart for the two weeks. The Canadian men and womens teams. GO CANADA!

A few thoughts

2006-02-05T13:55:00.000-08:00

So Stephen Harper and the conservatives won the election. Albeit with not quite as many seats as I or others expected. Guess we got caught up with the polling numbers. I forgot the most important thing about polls, that they're only accurate at the moment the question is asked. People have this funny habit of changing their minds at the moment of truth, at the ballot box.

There was one big surprise and few expected results. As expected, the prairies went Conservative (including a complete sweep in Alberta). Atlantic Canada went Liberal, again. And out here in B.C., our schizophrenic electorate was all over the map (no wonder the rest of the country thinks we're crazy).

The big surprise this time around was in Quebec. Who would have believed 2 months ago that the Conservatives could pick up 10 seats in "La Belle" province. Kinda makes one wonder what this means for sovereignty in the province. Especially with the formation of Solidaire, the new left wing separatist party. Looks like the movement could be fracturing after repeated failures to get anything done. All I really have to say is just give it up already and quit your goddamn whining . You lost on the Plains of Abraham and you just keep losing over and over again. I have to admit thats not exactly a rare sentiment out here in the west though.

I don't wanna look, but I can't help it.

2006-01-15T21:37:00.000-08:00

Good God. The Liberal campaign has begun to resemble a car wreck. Anybody else get the same feeling I'm getting? You know the one where you see a horrible accident and keep looking even though it horrifies you. I hate seeing a party go down in the flames like the Liberals are right now, but I can't help but tune in everyday just to see how they're gonna screw up this time.

Feel kinda sad for Paul Martin too. This was supposed to be his time, after waiting for that dumbass Chretien to get out of office. Can't imagine he'll be around much longer after the next Liberal convention. Although it doesn't suprise me that much, considering the circumstances under which the whole changeover occured. And you have to feel that there a few Chretienites in the party willing to screw this election up, just to screw Paul over. But then the obvious question pops up, who takes over? Have to admit at this point, I have no idea.

On a lighter note, my beloved Canucks seem to be doing better. But as any good Canucks fan knows, you just never know with this damn team.

Another Day, Another Dollar

2006-01-11T22:51:00.000-08:00

Well, gonna try and post a little more often. Yeah, I know, you've read that on a thousand other blogs as well. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Well, first of all, we beat the goddamn Leafs!! Don't know what it is, but I always take pleasure in seeing them lose, especially to the Canucks.

Other thing I wanted to talk about was Michael J. Fox. He's doing a guest spot on a show I watch, Boston Legal. He's playing a role as guy dying of lung cancer. Don't know how many of you know but he has Parkinson's Disease in real life. He's also kinda of local boy too (my mom went to high school with him). So if you look on the side of the site, you'll notice I put a link up to his website. Please check it out if you're interested in learning a little bit more.

Politics & Hockey

2006-01-10T20:57:00.000-08:00

Well, looks like I might have been wrong. Looks like Harper might actually pull it off and actually win this election. Some pundits are actually predicting a majority win for the Conservatives. I don't know how much credit I can give the Conservatives though.

Paul Martin and his team must have decided they wanted to give Harper a late christmas present. How else can one explain the abysmal performance of the Liberals so far? Natural governing party my ass. I will admit, I had high hopes for Paul Martin when he first came to power, but he has severely disappointed me and I think the rest of the country. So far, the only tactic the Liberals have been using is to try and scare us away from voting Conservative. Do they really place such little value on our intelligence? I don't know about you but I'm usually more inclined to make a decision on the facts, not "oh, he scares me less than the other one". And please, would someone shoot Jack Layton with a tranq dart and lock him in a closet until the 24th, he annoys the hell out of me.

And now for something completely different...

Well for my fellow Canucks fans out there, WTF?? I know you are all asking the same question: how does this team, that some predicted would make a cup run (and not just us rabid, crazy fans), lose eight out of nine games? Including one to St. Louis (the worst team in the league)?

To me, one of the problems seems to be a lack of heart or intensity in the team. I hate to say it, but it looks like almost no one on the team is playing for each other. These guys aren't playing as a team and that is a huge problem. So far, I would have to say that the only bright spot is the 2nd line, or as I've heard them called the "3 Brothers" Line. These guys seem to be almost psychically in tune with one another.

Guess we can only wait and see what happens, eh?

2005-12-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

Well, well. Long time since I've posted. Bloody final exams. Still find it weird that I spend 10 times as long studying as I do actually writing the exam. And even after that 25 hours (in total) I'm still not sure if I passed or not. Oh well. I have quite a long break between this one and my last one, so my weekend was basically one long bender. Still not quite sure how I made into my bed Saturday night.

On Friday, the groupings for the 2006 World Cup came out. I've always been interested in football (soccer to us North Americans), but I find I always pay way more attention to the World Cup. I guess its because its so hard to really pay attention to most of the clubs, especially with all of the tournaments, cups, etcetera. The World Cup seems to be the only competition around that actually offers a decent show. Looks like it'll actually be a pretty good competition this year. That and the fact I won't have to stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning to actually watch a game is a plus as well. I don't really have a team yet, considering the fact that Canada doesn't ever really have a chance. Guess thats due to the fact its usually so bloody cold up here, we can't play year round like they do elsewhere.

Anyways, should probably get back to studying, oh well. The 21st should be a hell of a party.

2005-11-29T10:29:00.000-08:00

Holy crap is it ever cold. Well from some of you, its probably not that cold here (3-4 °C , 36-38 °F). But here on the West Coast and especially in Vancouver, we get rather used to the warmer weather. Well at least we don't get any snow. Wait, just heard the forecast, now we're supposed to get snow. Bloody Hell, that means the city is pretty much gonna shut down (we don't handle snow very well at all). And I can't even take advantage of the weather and go skiing. Well I could, but due to a bureaucratic mix up, I don't have health care until January and I'm not that good a skier.

Because of the weather, I've been spending a lot of time in car. And at this point, I think I'm addicted to this new CD I got. Ten Thousand Fists by Disturbed. Its gotten to the point were every time I get in the car I need to listen to it. You'd think after 3 weeks, i'd get sick of this stuff but so far nothing.

Oh well. At least, I know the weather will better pretty darn soon. So I just have to wait it out. And the fact that it'll be sunny in Feburary / March while its still snowing back east, kinda makes up for it.

The Grey Cup

2005-11-27T19:12:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a hell of a game. First OT since '61. I've gotta say the only football I really like to watch is CFL. 9 out of 10 times the Grey Cup gives an amazing contest. With variety too, sometimes its a defensive contest, others a kickers battle royale. For way too long, the Super Bowl has been almost predetermined and doesn't really provide much on-field entertainment (although they are pretty good at the off-field stuff).

I must give Danny Maciocia, the Edmonton Eskimos head coach, some props. Here he is on national TV (CBC in Canada), and the first thing he says is this was because of his whole family. And the fact he stuck with Ricky Ray. Now if the rumours are true and Jason Maas is out of there tomorrow, I think the coach has given his No. 1 QB a huge vote of confidence by leaving him in the end of the game and allowing him to win the game. I think this guy will go on to a great career in this league.

The Internet

2005-11-27T15:48:00.000-08:00

Wow, think you not addicted to the Internet? Try this, go for as long as you can without using a computer to get on the net. I had to do that (unintentionally) because of my damn ISP. Two days and I was going nuts. No e-mail, no weird news from Finland, no continuosly updated hockey scores. Until this happened, I had no idea how much I actually used the internet. Most of the time, I feel like I hardly use it. Sure I've got 3 different e-mails for different purposes, but really how much time do I spend on e-mail daily. A hell of a lot as it turns out.

Does this mean I'm going to cut back? No, there is no way I can. It has become such a part of my life, I don't think I could handle it. Especially now that I've started this blog. Just too bloody connected I guess. How many of you are in the same situation?

The Government

2005-11-24T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well. Looks like the Conservatives / NDP / BQ have finally decided to bring down the government (and who says that politics doesn't make for strange bedfellows).

Frankly, I don't understand why. Of course, I understand their reasons and such. But given that most observers (expert and amateur) expect yet another Liberal Minority, it’s hard to figure out why. Especially in Stephen Harper's case. The way I see it, every election he loses (or in this case fails to win) brings the dog’s a little closer, smelling blood in the air. If I were to make a prediction, my guess is that Harper is gone if he doesn't win this one. I mean he's had the sponsorship scandal along with the Gomery inquiry in recent months and has yet to really make a dent in the Liberal's popularity.

This pains me to see. I'm probably a small-c conservative. Socially liberal but fiscally conservative. But I can't bring myself to vote for the Conservatives. Their stance on social issues is just too far to the right for me. I support gay marriage, decriminalization of marijuana, etcetera. Fiscally, the conservatives are a better match for me, but it’s hard to ignore the other issues when you’re voting. And I really don't think this problem is unique to me, I'm willing to bet this is a huge reason why the Reform/Alliance/PC/Conservatives never had their "breakthrough" in Ontario and especially Quebec.

Meanwhile, there's Jack Layton and Giles Duceppe. For Giles and the BQ, he's got it easy. Every bad thing that comes out from Gomery, et al. does 2-3 days of campaigning for him. So the BQ has Quebec locked up (surprise, surprise). But Jack Layton? Hmm, not too sure there. I think the NDP will fare alright (probably lose 1 or 2 seats, maybe gain 1 or 2). Their leader may not fare so well. He went from kingmaker in May to court jester in November with that crazy motion he came up with. Guess we'll just have to wait and see on this one.

Anyways, for you fellow fans of crazy canadian politics, looks like we get a pretty good christmas present. We get to see these idiots do it all over again. Should be interesting.

Umm, Not too sure?

2005-11-21T21:16:00.000-08:00

Well, this is a first for me. Just thought I'd start this to, I don't know actually. Just kinda seemed like a good idea. Not really sure what I'll be writing about yet. Got a bunch of varied interests. Kinda changes on a daily basis.

Sometimes I think I'll have some long winded rants. Kinda like today.

Ahh Driving in the Fog. Gotta Love it. Especially when you get your typical drivers that can't drive in anything other than perfectly sunny and dry conditions. We got a lot of those out here. Took me close to 2 hours to get to school today. Should have only taken 30-40 minutes. Bloody idiots. Drivers like these are the reason I can't quit smoking. I see some crazy stuff. Like this retard yesterday that is in the far right-hand lane, decides he wants to turn left and cuts off 3 lanes of traffic to do it. Thing is I actually don't find stuff like that surprising anymore. I just look and go "ehh" and light another cig, just to keep the stress level down.

Anyways, think thats about it, need another cig, just thinking about some of those idiots out there.

Daz