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[Büge]

Mmmm, yes. I would have voted, except

1. I don't know what ward I'm in.
2. I don't know what I'm voting for.
3. Even if I did vote, I'm probably going to leave this area in a few years anyway. In the last four years I've moved three times.
4. Judging by the number of flyers dropped in my mailbox, I'd be voting for five different positions with three people each vying for the seat.
5. By the time I realized it was voting day, I was already on my way to work.

I realize this is probably going to open myself up to a lot of flak, but I honestly can't keep up with this sort of thing. The political process is both dull and disingenuous, and I just don't feel as though my vote goes towards anything I can honestly say I have a vested interest in. Maybe if I were a homeowner or someone with business ties to the community, I might get more involved, but honestly, I probably won't so long as the first two layers of Maslow's Pyramid are secure.

[Mongrel]

Also, you don't live in Toronto.

[Thad]

Steve Nash quitting Suns to run for Mayor of Victoria.

Don't know much about the dude's politics (and the article doesn't shed any light on them -- this is Phoenix, after all, not Victoria), but he's anti-1070.

[Mongrel]

[Royal☭]

I'm sorry that Toronto wasn't able to elect Chip Zdarsky as mayor.  He was more than qualififed

[Thad]

USA Today: "The story was a total fabrication."

Huh.  Well, I've always taken the New Times with a grain of salt, but they don't usually put entire five-page articles together out of pure bullshit.  Okay, New Times, you got me.  I'm just...a little bemused as to what the point of all this was.

[Shinra]

[Mongrel]

Yeah, that was a LONG DAMN ARTICLE for a fake.

[Büge]

Edmonton anti-rape campaign targets potential rapists

That might sound redundant, but

Most sexual-assault campaigns focus on providing prevention tips for women, Smith said. “Tips just reinforce the myth that women are somehow responsible for anticipating and preventing sexual violence.

“This innovative SAVE committee believes that, as long as society directs prevention strategies at women, we all stop looking at what the real problem is — the perpetrators.”

[Beat Bandit]

Apparently the internet hates me, if you manage to find good shots of each individual ad I would be very grateful.

[Mongrel]

Fowl's post almost gave me a heart attack thinking the City of Edmonton had done something colossally stupid, but the actual link seems well-thought-out.

[Mongrel]

Holly shit, has Iggy found his spine again?

I was despairing extra deeply about the state of our union confederation this morning, so this is very welcome news indeed. I actually think Iggy's right that a: he'll do much better in an actual election then just coasting along like this and b: he needs to start being proactive or he (and the party) is dead meat. Not just hitting BACK, but hitting FIRST, and right in the gut.

At the very least he seems to be pressing those key buttons a centre-leftist should, reminding the citizenry what they stand for. Exactly what the Democrats SHOULD be doing but aren't in the US.

I mean, even if the other parties stand with Harper, prop up the budget, and keep the Cons alive, the Liberals'll get a huge boost. The NDP will take solid hit from their core base or the Conservatives will look horrible to their own base for accepting Bloc support. Sure, this could all fizzle again, or he could just chicken out - but even that's positive, because at least the Liberals will be fed up enough that he'll be thrown out on his ass and we'll have another go with a different leader.

FINALLY. LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED.

[Büge]

But was the party really started?

No, it wasn't.

... Or was it?

[Mongrel]

NO DON'T SPOIL MY DREAMS.

WE CAN'T HAVE AN ELECTION TOO SOON.

God, even if Harper wins again, I'll be happy.

Iggy wins: YAY! (I'm not CRAZY about Iggy, but HARPER WOULD BE GOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNE)
Harper wins minority: Harper will almost certainly be stabbed in the back by SOMEONE in the Con party.
Harper wins majority: At least we'll have stability for a few years and the Liberals will have time to rebuild PROPERLY after chucking out their latest leader.

I mean, you need to understand something. I don't care if a politician is left-wing or right-wing so long as they are SMART and can GET SHIT DONE. I mean, up until Iggy decided to do something besides BEND OVER ALL DAY, I'd have been happy to vote for, for... friggin' Preston Manning over any of the current party leaders because he's an intelligent, moral, man who would at least have a plan of some kind. I may not agree with him on a lot of things, but he would be a constructive nation-builder instead of a gigantic poisonous asshole.

Harper can maybe get a few things done, but you'd never call him smart. In fact, he's more like an idiot-savant where the one thing he can do right is political maneuvering. Even the usual boring Canadian mediocrity and slow decay is an improvement over the active national self-destruction Harper practices.

[Büge]

friggin' Preston Manning

Whoa whoa whoa. Let's not say things we can't take back.

[Mongrel]

Dead serious on that.

He may be an evangelical Christian, but I'd take him in a HEARTBEAT over Harper.

Not least of which because he's a thoughtful, intelligent, nice guy.

Now... if Prime Ministers could run roughshod over the judiciary and the Constitution (well, more than the usual level abuse anyway), I'd probably not say that. But I actually would not be the least bit afraid that Manning would try to evangelize Canada (well, okay, I'd have no fears of him SUCCEEDING).

In case you hadn't noticed Harper has actively been trying in a sort of a sideways way. But when he tries, his popularity plummets. Most of Harper's worst failures have come when he tries to give in to his inner ideologue.

HOWEVER, if Iggy has really, truly, finally found his spinal column, he'd get my vote even with Manning around. But I'd actually have to think about it. With Harper, no thought is needed.

[sei]

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approves Bell Canada’s request to implement usage-based billing for their Gateway Access Services (GAS) customers, meaning that customers of the smaller ISPS will likely no longer enjoy unlimited Internet usage, and will face monthly data caps as soon as 90 days from the now, what the CRTC calls a “reasonable implementation period.”

ISP competition in Canada is quite grim. At most, Canadians have a choice between Rogers/Shaw, Bell and Telus/AT&T. In a number of cases, only two ISPs even exist in the marketplace – and all too often, none of the above are willing to enter the last mile markets, keeping those in smaller communities on dial-up to this day.
...
ISP competition in Canada is quite grim. At most, Canadians have a choice between Rogers/Shaw, Bell and Telus/AT&T. In a number of cases, only two ISPs even exist in the marketplace – and all too often, none of the above are willing to enter the last mile markets, keeping those in smaller communities on dial-up to this day.
...
Doesn’t Canada have a regulator? Well, indeed, Canada does have a controversial regulator known as the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission – or as some have jokingly referred to it in the past, Can’t Recognize True Canadian) which is suppose to regulate the industry such as internet services. One of the sources of contention is certain board members coming from companies like Bell.

Kind of glad I'm not you guys, right about now.

[Mongrel]

Oh come on, this is Canada! We wouldn't know free-market competition if the CEO of two telecom companies got into a literal fistfight.



Serious reply: Canada's Telecom sector has been a complete disaster in terms of competition for over 25 years. The Canadian BBB and federal consumers watchdog probably get more complaints about telecom companies than all other industries combined. High rates, poor service, you name it.

For my money, the only way to increase competition is to dramatically increase the legal amount of foreign holdings allowed in the industry. I'm not against Protectionism in some cases, but it's clear that it has served us in almost no practical way as far as telecommunications go.

[Büge]

King Steve is threatening to cut public funding for political parties.

[François]

At first I thought you were talking about this King Steve. Then I figured that might have been the intended reference.

Then I wondered if we wouldn't be better off with that one than with actual King Steve.

...still wondering.