Liberal For Life

All differences aside: Rest in Peace Jack Layton

2011-08-22T12:21:00.002-03:00

I frequently disagreed with Jack Layton, but when something like this happens that all seems pretty insignificant.

I admit that sometimes I view my political opponents as "enemies" but the real enemy here is Cancer. I've lost so many good friends to this horrible disease. My sister is currently in the fight of her life with Stage 4 Colon cancer, and as I've often told people I know on the subject: if Cancer were to be cured tomorrow I would dance on its grave.

I'd like to humbly offer my condolences to anyone who was touched by Jack Layton.

Harper on Twitter

2011-05-20T12:58:00.004-03:00

At least I think it's the real Harper. :D

I wish the Liberal media would get off this Brosseau broad, I'd like to show her my caucus if ya smell what the Harp is cookin. #MPILF #NDP

Got an appointment with the sculptor today to have work done on my statue, what do you guys think, should I have a sword or an AK? #Winning

Touring #SlaveLake on Friday?!? Thanks afuckinlot schedulers, way to TOTALLY buzz kill my fuckin weekend!!!

Totally scored with Raitt last night, but Ambrose said she had to wash her hair, oh yeah bitch? Well I gotta wash my cabinet. -@RtHonPMHarper

Simulcasting the Next National Convention

2011-05-07T11:42:00.002-03:00

Just wanted to lend my massive (ROFLCOPTER) support to this cause. I think it would be a great way to reach out to the country and have Liberals everywhere engaged.

http://westerngrit.blogspot.com/2011/05/simulcast-next-national-convention-to.html

WesternGrit: Rather than spend a lot of money on a "grand convention" in a central location, I would recommend using leading edge technology to "simulcast" the Convention to every province.

This is a great idea. I thought the platform being launched online was also a great idea. Use the technology we have to reach out to Canadians.

BREAKING: OSAMA BIN LADEN KILLED BY U.S. FORCES

2011-05-02T00:08:00.001-03:00

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/05/01/bin.laden.dead/index.html

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ROT AND BURN IN HELL OSAMA YOU SCUMBAG!

One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest

2011-04-30T16:03:00.003-03:00

So the Liberal candidate in my riding Dr. Stan Kutcher, had a libelous article about him posted in the free local newspaper The Coast. A paper I normally enjoy save for their blatant NDP bias, as evidenced by the fact they posted a story about NDP Premier Darrell Dexter before he was elected Premier.

But the underlying story is more complicated than that, The Coast issued a retraction online it's true but since the article was posted in their last issue before the election anyone who reads the print version only will have no idea until after election day. Another paper locally The Chronicle Herald wrote an article about it, so that helped a bit, but the demographics for the two papers are very different.

But also a part of this story is how The Coast relied on a bunch of Scientologist wack jobs and one of their puppet reporters as their one and only source for the story. Now as I said I enjoy the Coast, and the reporter in question Tim Bousquet does some awesome reporting on the goings on (or lack thereof) of our inept city council, so I have to say I was surprised that they would sink to such levels. But, as a recent poll says their golden girl Megan Leslie could be in trouble so they may have decided that they needed to do something to save her. Kutcher also mentioned that "hundreds" of his signs have been stolen during the campaign, further illustrating the Leslie campaign (or its unaffiliated supporters) desperation.

I can't say I'm surprised she's in trouble. At the local debate held recently at St Mary's University she was much like her leader: all flash and no substance. Relying on crowd pleasing one liners instead of actually addressing the issue in question. Which is probably why she refused to debate Dr. Kutcher on health care.

Hopefully our campaign can rise above these dirty tricks and deliver victory for Stan in Halifax.

Stan Kutcher for Halifax

2011-04-21T19:32:00.002-03:00

The highlight of an event I personally attended, a debate between 4 of the candidates for the riding of Halifax.

Harpercrisy

2011-04-21T18:35:00.002-03:00

Interviewer: I've just got a moment left, but I know that what you've advocated is perhaps a coalition of right wing parties that somehow they might have a chance. It's not likely to happen I guess before the next federal election expected this year. Who do you think's gonna win?

Stephen Harper: Well, it would really surprise me at the moment if the Liberals didn't get the most seats, I mean judging from all the, not just the polling data but the fact they have such a wide coalition. The way the Liberals I think are eventually gonna lose office whether it's in this election or the next one is they're gonna fail to win a majority. They basically lost Quebec and without Quebec the Liberal party has never been a majority party in this country. And that's where I think you're gonna face someday a minority parliament with the Liberals maybe having the largest number of seats and what will be the test is then whether there's any party in opposition that's able to form a coalition or working alliance with, with the others, and I think we have a political system that's gonna continue to have three or four different parties or five different parties and so I think that parties that want to form government are gonna have to eventually learn to work together.

Interviewer: Ok, we know where your vote is, on the right. Stephen Harper thanks so much.

Larry King Hanging up his Supsenders in the Fall

2010-06-30T08:52:00.003-03:00

I don't normally watch Larry King that much, but not because of Larry. I just don't watch because he usually has guests on there I don't have much interest in. But last night was different, he had one of my favorite guests on: Bill Maher. Only last night was different, last night Larry announced he's ending Larry King Live sometime this fall. He's still going to be with CNN, doing specials, but the nightly show will end.

I'm saddened by this, Larry interviewing Bill Maher or Michael Moore, or any number of other great guests was always a treat for me. Like I said I didn't watch often, but when he had a guest on I really liked it was must see TV for me.

I hope that CNN picks a worthy successor. Someone who isn't overly partisan. I enjoy commentary, but for it I go to MSNBC. I go to CNN for unbiased reporting and to see my favorites interviewed by someone without a political agenda.

In any event best of luck Larry, we'll miss ya!

The "Black Bloc" Idiots

2010-06-30T00:11:00.002-03:00

I'd really love to see these morons shipped off to Iran or China or North Korea and see how long they complain about the way things are in Canada then. And I want to make it clear (not that it will matter to the idiots who support them) but I'm only referring to the dumbasses who smashed windows, set cop cars on fire, brought weapons into the protest area, and oh yeah lets not forget wore masks because they're too chicken shit to actually stand up for what they say they believe in, instead they have to hide their identity because they're a fucking coward.

The actual, legitimate protesters who were peaceful and obeyed the law: kudos to you. I have no problem with anyone protesting anything as long as they obey the law and they don't interfere with normal people just trying to go about their day. My first introduction to "protesting" was years ago when idiots from the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) blocked traffic in a major artery during morning and evening rush hour traffic here in Halifax. (Barrington St right under the MacDonald Bridge) I was amazed how they were continually allowed to do this and fuck over normal, everyday people who were just trying to get to work to provide for themselves and their families. I felt that every single one of them should have been arrested or at the very least been made to get off the road. I mean, if you want to protest the government actually go to where the decision makers work and fuck with them. Don't fuck with John Doe here who's just trying to get to work so he can put food on his table.

And another thing, I've seen that video of the Police allegedly rushing the protesters who were singing O Canada. And at first blush it looks really bad. But did anyone notice how when the police make their rush the camera is turned away from the main crowd, and thus you can't see what they're doing? Everyone is leaping to the conclusion that the cops just decided they wanted to get their rocks off by cracking some skulls, and attacked for no reason. But who knows what the protesters were doing behind the camera's back? For all we know they could have been rolling out a nuke or pointing AK47s at the cops. I'm not saying they were, all I'm saying is that video doesn't show us the whole story. If the cops did attack them for no reason, so be it they should be punished. But lets actually take the time to examine the possibilities before you jump to conclusions.

Nice to see the UK consider a method of Electoral Reform that doesn't suck

2010-05-11T22:18:00.003-03:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting

I wish our politicians would follow suit. Now I've gone on and on about the lack of merit some of the proposed PR systems have but my one main argument has always been it gives small fringe parties too much power. IRV doesn't do that, it allows us to substantially marginalize strategic voting as well as giving us the opportunity to still vote directly for our MP. That's important to a lot of people including me.

As I've said before the vast majority of PR proponents only want PR because it will help their party gain more power. They may trot out a bunch of BS about fairness and all that but in reality it's about one thing: Power.

Now as a Liberal I of course am threatened by PR because it substantially lowers my party's chance of obtaining a majority. I freely admit that, but at the same time I can look past that and see that there are flaws in our electoral system. Strategic voting is a problem. People should vote for who they want to vote for and not have to support some candidate they don't like as much because they fear a worse candidate might win. IRV doesn't solve that problem, in fact in researching forms of proportional representation I've found that the only system that truly eliminates all strategic voting is random voting by a computer which of course isn't preferable (unless you live in Florida)

IRV is the right way to go with our current Parliamentary system, to institute true PR even with a threshold with our current system of Parliament would elevate parties that should have little influence (because the vast majority of the country voted against them) to potentially having all of the power and holding Parliament hostage.

Now PR supporters will say that the other parties can simply band together and stop this from happening. And that does sound great, except I live in the real world where my Party hates your party and vice versa.

So, which party is supposed to be in bed with the Seperatists?

2009-09-15T18:46:00.002-03:00

Now, for the record I personally don't have any problem getting votes from the Bloc. they are in Parliament whether we like it or not and they have to be dealt with, it'd be childish to ignore them.

But I just think it's funny that the party that rails on and on about how evil the Liberals are for agreeing to cooperate with the Bloc is now being propped up by them.

It sucks in a way too though, because I was really liking the idea of Jack Layton trying to explain propping up the Conservatives to his base.

Eyewitness Account of the Massacre at Baharestan Square, Iran.

2009-06-24T13:04:00.003-03:00

This is a rush transcript done by me, some of the words I don't know how to spell so I put the (sp?) tag after them. Video below.

Ivan: Can you tell us what you saw today when you tried to go to Baharestan Square?

Caller: Yes, it was uh, 5:30, I was going uh towards uh Baharestan with my friends, and uh this was everyone not only just supporters of one candidate the other, eh everyone all of my friends we were going to Baharestan to express our opposition to these killings these days and demanding freedom, uh, but uh the black uh clad police, they stop everyone at sadi(sp?) they let uh, they en, they um uh emptied the busses, uh, that were taking people there and let the private cars go on and uh we went on until faredosee(sp?) and then all of a sudden some 500 people with clubs and woods they uh came out of hidayan(sp?) mosque and they pulled into the streets and they uh started beating everyone and they they uh, they tried to beat everyone on sadi(sp?) bridge and um throwing them off of the bridge and...

Ivan: This is a pedestrian bridge?

Caller: Yes, a pedestrian bridge and everyone also on the sidewalks they beat a woman so savagely that uh, she was a drenched in blood. her husband who was watching the scene he just fainted and um I also saw people shooting uh, i mean the the security forces shooting on people on lawlezar(sp?) and uh at first people were brave that booed the security forces but they were beating people like Hell, this was a massacre. They were trying to beat people so that they would die. They were cursing, saying very bad words to everyone. they were beating old men and this was a ... this was exactly a massacre. You should stop this! You should stop this! You should help the people of Iran who demand freedom!

Ivan: Um, uh,

Caller: You should help us!

Ivan: I uh ... how many of you were there in this terrible situation?

Caller: There were thousands of people on, on the street but it was me and 10 of my friends.

Ivan: And, and you said they the security forces were shooting at the people, did you see anybody injured by gunfire?

Caller: No, as I explained earlier, I didn't see mysel, I heard the shooting and my friends and I we just scat-tered uh, we heard the shooting near lalizar(sp?) and we were near there and we just ran away. I didn't see again what happened, I'm sure people are dead there but i couldn't see, I couldn't catch the film or anything.

Ivan: Um, my dear this is this is really terrifying to hear and we're not only getting this report from you, we're got a report from another source in Tehran, describing the situation today being terrible. Uh saying people were being shot like animals, they beat the people like animals are you safe right now?

Caller: Yes, exactly, exactly, exactly this is what, what's happening they beat people so bad. You know in, in the previous days they are killing students with axe you know they, they put the axe through the heart of young men and it's so, em ... devastating! I don't know how to describe it I can't find the words, but this is horrific! This is genocide! This is a massacre! This is HITLER! And you should, you people should stop it! I mean it's, long time we have been exposed to this and nobody takes action! It's time to act!

Ivan: Um, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. Um, I want to make sure that that you don't get in to trouble for talking to us this way, and, and thank you for your bravery in sharing this with you, I know this situation is uh, is terrifying on the streets of Tehran today.

Caller: Ok, thank you.

Ivan: Ok, stay with us, I'm gonna pass back to Tony now. Uh, a harrowing account from a young woman, ah, telling us about what's going on ah, just a few hours ago in downtown Tehran. Tony?
Tony: Look um, Ivan appreciate it and uh, ah I know you're still talking to sources. Uh, we need to take a, a deep breath and consider what we've heard here, let's do that, Let's take a break, we're back with more CNN newsroom in just a moment.

Update: Videos alleged to be from Baharestan Square
(Warning: Graphic!)

Video 1
Video 2

Iran: How You Can Help

2009-06-20T17:45:00.003-03:00

First, get informed on the situation.

http://monitter.com/ is a real time Twitter Tracker that is currently set on the #IranElection, #Tehran, and #Mousavi hashes. It updates automatically so you don't have to keep refreshing.

Alternatively, you can use twitter's search page.
Searching for a hashtag will show all recent posts under that tag.

Contact the Canadian Government and ask them to allow wounded protesters in to our embassy for medical help and treatment.

Find your MP By Postal Code

Prime Minister Harper
Email: pm@pm.gc.ca
Phone: 613-992-4211
Fax: 613-941-6900

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon
Email: CannoL@parl.gc.ca
Phone: 613-992-5516
Fax : 613-992-6802

Canadian Embassy in Iran
Email : tehran@international.gc.ca

Cyberwar guide for the Iran elections - A Guide to helping the Iranian Protesters on the internet.

If you have any other ideas or suggestions, or links to articles showing how people can help please post them in the comments.

2009 Electoral Map of Iran

2009-06-14T09:04:00.003-03:00

Click to Enlarge

And Now, Something I Thought I'd Never Say...

2009-06-10T21:05:00.003-03:00

...I agree with Warren Kinsella.

Of course, I also agree that we won't get an election, as Jack Layton will no doubt prove what I've always known, he doesn't care about Canadians.

Stash: Oh wow? There's a massive recession and the government isn't handling it properly? Well, we should defeat them and have an election then, lets just take a look at the old poll numbers. What? DOWN since the last election? Why the Government is doing a fine job, with our help of course, no need to defeat them now.

He's Already Lowering Expectations

2009-06-10T13:10:00.000-03:00

That didn't take long.

Balanced Budget Will Be Tough: Dexter

There was a party leader in this election, I can't remember who it was who made a point of pointing out how unrealistic the NDP's platform of promising the moon whilst still being able to deliver a balanced budget was. If only I could remember his name.

Oh well, I'm sure it'll come to me.

Now of course my Orange haired friends will be quick to point out that Dextey isn't saying he's not going to balance the budget, to which I say: Wait a while.

The Hopes Counter

2009-06-10T10:25:00.002-03:00

Well, I had my hopes, let's see how many of them came true and how many didn't last night.

- I hope that we can hold the NDP to a minority.
Nope, came up 5 seats short of averting disaster.

- I hope the Liberals increase their seat count.
Yup, up by 2.

- I hope the Liberals can at least get official opposition.
By the skin of their teeth. Do teeth have skin?

- I hope the Liberals hold on to the two seats we currently have in Metro Halifax.
Shockingly yes, we did, and gained 2 as well!

- I hope we can take my home riding Dartmouth East, the guy running there is named Andrew Younger and he's a great city councilor, not to mention he chose the best party to run for.
YES!!! This was by far the biggest surprise for me last night and it was a pleasant one! Go Andrew Go!

- I hope we can win the riding I currently live in Halifax-Sable Island. (Can the Sable Island horses vote?)
Nope, lost it by a country mile. (Although if those Sable Island Horses would have been able to vote we would have had it cuz they're all Liberal)

- I hope Stephen McNeil wins his seat.
It was close, he only got 73.32 percent of the vote.

- I hope Premier MacDonald wins his seat. (unless it's the Liberals who win it from him.)
Check, although now I hope he quits and we can win it in a By-Election.

- I hope Paula Lunn wins Hants West. (I lived there for 7 months after a fire destroyed my home)
Nope, lost in a close one again.

It's Official

2009-06-09T21:37:00.000-03:00

My home riding has gone Red.

Andrew Younger has shocked the world and become the only person to unseat an NDP tonight.

It sucks to lose my home Province to the Orange Menace, but it's fantastic that the soil upon which I grew up will be Liberal Red, part of the loyal opposition to this terrible, terrible government.

Joan Jessome, head of a huge union now on CBC bullshitting that the NDP won't be paying her and her friends back handsomely.

Enjoy your bought and paid for government Joaney.

Looks like Paula Lunn got beat

2009-06-09T20:58:00.000-03:00

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Current Standings

Hard to crack that old Tory stronghold, still it's nice to see the NDP finish 3rd somewhere.

Anyway, that wraps up my live blogging. I hope you all enjoyed it, I'll be back later or perhaps tomorrow with a wrap up.

CTV Predicting a Liberal Opposition

2009-06-09T20:52:00.001-03:00

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Current Standings

YES! At least we'll get the extra funding and be able to effectively hold this terrible government's feet to the flames.

Go Stephen McNeil Go.

What a Scumbag

2009-06-09T20:49:00.000-03:00

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Current Standings

Fuckin Darrell Dexter comes out to speak before Stephen McNeil was done his speech.

His first act as Premier-Designate and it's a classless one. I guess I'll have to get used to that.

Liberal Andrew Younger Leading by 140 with 1 poll left!!!

2009-06-09T20:37:00.004-03:00

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Current Standings

Oh my god! If my home riding bucks the wave of Orange Ignorance and goes red I'll be so happy on this most terrible night!

New (Hopefully) Leader of the Opposition Stephen McNeil is now Speaking

2009-06-09T20:37:00.003-03:00

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Current Standings

Kind of a long introduction.

(Fromer) Premier MacDonald Speaking Now

2009-06-09T20:24:00.000-03:00

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Current Standings

Bye Bye Fiddler, one small, tiny, minute bit of good news is that we'll be rid of this fool.

Diana Whalen Elected: CTV Projects

2009-06-09T20:14:00.002-03:00

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Current Standings

Awesome, so we're holding and pushing the NDP back in some places in Metro Halifax, better than I could have hoped but it's still early in some other places.