Dollar Blues

I'm getting so sick and tired of those smart alec know it alls in Canuckland that are demanding that retail and car prices drop now that the Loonie is riding high.

There's one point everyone is forgetting in all this. If prices lower because of the exchange rate, just where is all that lost money going to come from?

Salaries. Jobs.

In fact the argument can be used that if prices in the Canadian economy are going to be as uber exchange rate sensitive as Canadians want them to be then so should wages.

Anyone lining up for the first pay cut?

Garneau The Opportunist

Like all good government astronauts, Garneau proves his only motivation in politics is self gain:
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has formally announced former astronaut Marc Garneau's appointment as the party's candidate in the Montreal riding of Westmount-Ville-Marie.

"We have as a Liberal candidate a great Canadian hero," Dion said Friday at a news conference in Montreal. "(Garneau) is a hero of our history, he will be an architect of his future."

Garneau, the first Canadian in space and a former head of the Canadian Space Agency, pledged all of his energy to fight for the riding and "Liberal values."

Only two weeks ago, Garneau had announced he was quitting politics, saying he didn't seem to be part of Dion's vision.

Apparently Garneau's problem with Dion was never personal - it was just that he didn't want to have to fight to win a nomination for a major federal party like everyone else. He deserves to be appointed as a candidate apparently.

For Shame.

Damned Lies, and Jean Chretien

Jean Chretien appears to be a master of revisionist History with his latest memoirs. Now I haven't read the book, but based on the excerpts I've read so far, why would I want to read the mindless ramblings of a bitter old man?

Is that comment unfair? Unfortunately I don't think so.

I'm struggling to find something endearing in these remarks, but with all honesty, Jean Chretien is flat out lying with some of these statements he's made in his book.

Now I'm not one to defend former Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin, but the truth needs to be told to lies less we loose all sense of reality in a drunken anger fest.

This first accusation at former Prime Minister Paul Martin is damning:
Chretien says when he left office, Canada was on track to meet its commitments under the Kyoto accord.

That statement is bold faced straight in the neck lie. Eddie Goldenberg, Jean Chretien's right hand man confessed in February of this year that "...the Liberals went ahead with the Kyoto Protocol on climate change even though they knew there was a good chance Canada wouldn't meet its goals for pollution reduction."

The facts are clear. Jean Chretien either intentionally, or unintentionally is lying.

Further Jean Chretien goes on to state that:
Chretien also recounts that after the Taliban government of Afghanistan was overthrown, he carefully engineered things so Canada's soldiers were stationed around the safer area of Kabul, helping to rebuild the Afghan capital.

"Later, unfortunately, when my successor took too long to make up his mind about whether Canada should extend our term with the International Security Assistance Force, our soldiers were moved out of Kabul and sent south again to battle the Taliban in the killing fields around Kandahar," Chretien writes.

It does not take an elephant to remember that Canada's original commitment around Kabul involved a military role, and not just a reconstructive one. Their role was to "maintain order" in Kabul - Not to play it safe. This is a lie of omission.

Now they may not have been in the heaviest combat area of Afghanistan, but to suggest that Kabul was some sort of safe haven is a lie of convenience. Jean Chretien should remember the funerals of soldiers that he himself attended that were on that original combat mission to "safe" Kabul. Furthermore, it was under Jean Chretien's tenure that Canadian soldiers participated in one of the harshest battles in the war outside of Kabul in Operation Anaconda. That's why I'm assuming the honorable former Prime Minister uses the word "again" to describe the movement south of Canadian forces.

To suggest that the former Prime Minister cleverly made sure Canadian soldiers were kept out of harms way is a bold faced lie.

Then comes this whopper about the sponsorship scandal:
"Of course, I expected to have to take some hits in the press for a couple of weeks, but that hadn't frightened me in the past and it didn't frighten me now. By the time Martin was to take over, the whole issue would have been history and he could have begun his mandate without that albatross around his neck."

But Pimblett challenged Chretien's memory. "Undoubtedly there are clear differences in recollection between the two men - not the least of which would appear to be Mr. Chretien's decision to prorogue Parliament, and not accept the auditor generals report on sponsorship personally," he said.

That statement by Chretien is rightly challenged by Paul Martin's spokesman. Again, I'm no elephant, but I remember when the sponsorship scandal broke, and If I'm not mistaken the former Prime Minister Jean Chretien made an appearance: to testify.

That wouldn't have taken a couple of weeks. And for Chretien to suggest things would have just blown over like his couple million dollar golfing scandal in 2000, he's either lying or in denial. $100 million dollars was sent to Liberal friendly ad agencies without proper documentation. Public money was traded between people in brown paper bags at restaurants. That isn't something that will just blow over.

So in the end why would I waste my money and time to read such a useless piece of lies and propaganda?

The Goracle Wins Nobel

The Nobel Peace Prize just lost all pretense of being non-biased with this move:
Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore and a United Nations climate change panel have won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their work to combat climate change.
(...)
"I am deeply honoured to receive the Nobel Peace Prize," Gore said in a statement. "We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."

Abolishing the internal combustion engine has apparently turned into a religious crusade for Al Gore.

I have to admit to being shocked at this. I never figured that the Nobel Committee would steep this low in Leftish bias, but obviously I underestimated them.

Surely there were environmental lefties out there that were far less political than Al Gore that the Nobel committee could have awarded the prize to...

Tory Baloney

This from John Not-So-Tory:
"I want to do what's in the party's best interest; it's not about me. In the end I'll find work if they really don't think it's in the best interest of the party to have me lead it," he said, adding he was never "presumptuous enough" to think he would win power the first time out.

Whatever happened to the chant John Tory supporters screamed at the last leadership convention "Four not Eight!"? Furthermore what about previous press reports that stated he intended to stay on?

Maybe John Tory wasn't "presumptuous enough" but obviously many of his supporters were. Furthermore, if he's not retracting his commitment to stay, his communications machine is obviously faltering.

If Tory plans on continuing as Leader of the Flagship Conservative in Ontario he's going to have to do more than just pay lip service to the idea that he made mistakes in the last election.

He tried to make the election about John Tory vs Dalton McGuinty. It failed spectacularly as it did when Ernie Eves tried it and when Paul Martin tried it federally.

Either John Tory, or his right hand people need to get it through there thick skulls that Canadians and for that matter Ontarians vote for a team and policy more than they do a leader.

Tory also has to REALLY accept blame for this electoral loss if he wants to move forward which means recognizing the following:
Tascona said the low turnout in his riding showed Conservatives sat on their hands at a time when the Green Party was pushing hard.

If all you want to do is appeal to the "urban" "moderate" and City-Centric vote while ignoring your base which is primarily in rural Canada you are likely not to get very many of your base energized and many will "sit on their hands."

Listen to your caucus. Listen to your base. Those are key lessons John Tory needs to learn if he has hope of winning in the next election. These displays of false humility just throw gasoline to the fire.

Tory Thud

Voting day.

Lo' and behold I have a polling station in the very same building I live in. I wonder how many knuckleheads in this place still managed to make up excuses not to vote...

"I was too busy..." "I have to stay late at work..." "I don't have 5 minutes to spare..."

If it's important to you, you would have found the time. It's just a matter of priorities.

Stop your whining. Stop complaining. Suck it up and do your duty. At the very least do it to honor the millions of people lying dead on unknown battlefields so you could sip your diet-coke and lay back and make up excuses about why you refuse to use your hard fought privilege to vote.

So I went downstairs just a couple hours before the polls closed and stood in a line of precisely zero people to make my mark and vote - or as Robert Heinlein would describe it using "violence" in the form of a vote... Though somehow I doubt my puny vote will violently overthrow anything or anybody this time around.

I wasn't surprised by the lack of people at zero hour. It gave me plenty of time to wonder just what the hell happened this past election.

John Not-So-Tory's campaign literally imploded on itself. McGuilty managed not to loose despite lying to a group of 12 million people over and over.

Dipper leader Howard Hampton, for some odd unconceivable parallel universish reason is doing worse in an electoral field with a Liberal Tory leader, and a Liberal government not looking to be loosing anytime too soon.

NDP voters are afraid of a Tory win NOW? With McGuilty having an 18 point lead?

No really?

That's why Dipper voters are flocking to the Liberals?...

I don't blame Howard Hampton one bit for spazzing out in front of reporters.

As for John Tory's loss I have only one thing to say:

Conservatives elected an "urbanite" "moderate" "tolerant" leader, and his performance may end up being worse than anything federal Conservative firebrand Prime Minister Stephen Harper managed to pull off in Ontario.

I think that maybe, just maybe, that might prescribe some small teeny-weeny tweakings of the reasons why some Conservatives elect leaders...

John Not-So-Tory's Disaster

“If I have the privilege of serving as Premier, I will strike a commission, consult with the public, create pilot projects, and place a bill before the [Ontario] Legislature. But that bill will only proceed with the support of the people, through their elected representatives. MPPs will be allowed a free vote, so they are at liberty to vote their conscience and represent the wishes of their constituents. In this significant way, the public can be more involved in the decision making.”

Official Tory speak Translation:

"Blah...Blah...Blah... I'm changing policy because things aint going so good... Blah... Blah... Blah..."

John Not-So-Tory's political career has just ended tonight. Not only has he confirmed the suspicion many had of him that he would govern by opinion poll, but he showed a complete lack of "leadership" - you know the thing he was supposed to be better at than Dalton McGuilty.

In John Not-So-Tory's own words: "As Premier, I will be guided by the same values that have served me so well throughout my life – to keep my word, to work hard for what matters and to be accountable for my actions."

"I will strive to talk straight and talk sense because citizens deserve no less from their political leaders. It comes down to a matter of trust – political leaders need to trust their citizens to understand that some problems take time to solve. "

He hasn't kept his word, he's changing policy on the fly, both of which lead to absolutely zero trust earned.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think Tory's number will sink even lower as a cause of this major strategic blunder.