[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Josephus]

And she is hardly in Mandela's league.

Nor a US congressman's.

[Neil]

And she is hardly in Mandela's league.

Nor a US congressman's.

I would say that a Canadian Senate page is about equal in dignity to a US Representative.

[crazy canuck]

And she is hardly in Mandela's league.

Nor a US congressman's.

You are right.  We expect more decorum from her.

[Malthus]

Come on it's a very gutsy thing to do. Carry that fucking sign up her skirt until the right moment, and then do it; and that this will probably follow her around for a while, is pretty gutsy. In my book.

You forgot that most people on Languish would prefer protests to be... well, non-existent.

I think most Canucks view this sort of protest sort of like farting loudly in church - more embarrasingly childish than enlightening, whatever one happens to think of the sermon (or the preacher, or church as an institution, or organized religion). It just isn't the proper way to express disagreement, if you want to be taken seriously, though it will predictably raise chuckles from the kiddies.

[Josephus]

Like I said, it was mostly harmless and I give her kudos.

Now, this, even though it's directed at Harper, is stupid and dumb:


http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5haZn2PyOSvxJly0_pPXkakAc52kA?docId=7077370

PMO says Conservative website was hacked, reports of Harper choking are false
(The Canadian Press) – 5 minutes ago
OTTAWA — The Prime Minister's Office has confirmed that Stephen Harper is alive and well this morning after hackers posted a false notice on the Conservative party website saying he was in hospital.
PMO spokesman Dimitri Soudas said Harper had taken his daughter Rachel to school as usual, and had arrived on Parliament Hill in fine form.
Earlier, the Conservative party website briefly carried a notice saying Harper had been rushed by helicopter to Toronto General Hospital after choking on a piece of hashbrown.
Soudas said the website was hacked.
The notice was taken down quickly but not before it was retweeted from the Twitter account of newly elected MP Chris Alexander, and then spreading like wildfire through the Internet.
Alexander has removed the tweet from his stream, and said he was not responsible for sending out a link to the false notice.
In an email, PMO spokesman Andrew MacDougall confirmed that, indeed, Harper is as "fit as a fiddle."
The "contact" information on the party website continued to be linked to a Twitter account where someone was claiming responsibility for posting "a nice juicy release" about Harper's breakfast.
The PMO referred all questions about the security of the party website to party officials. They did not immediately return calls.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

It's the same kind of balls demonstrated by that Congressman who called Obama a liar during one of his State of the Union speeches.

Completely different.

How so?

She's not a US congressman for one. She's a 21-year-old student.  She didn't call Harper a liar or spout any other form of verbal abuse or defame anybody in anyway. She knew she would get punished for what she did and didn't get away with it.

This. She is a 21 year old kid who made a goofy choice that some will applaud simply because they agree with her. The Congressman was wel,l a congressman, elected and supposedly mature enough not to disrupt the POTUS mid speech. sure they both should have bit their tongue, but imho the congressman is more of a douche that the page.

[Josephus]

[crazy canuck]

So the majority government has been in power, the budget has been brought in, the legislative agenda has been announced and the sum of all those events is - status quo.

I wont bother going through the thread to highlight which of us predicted this outcome and which people predicted some kind dramatic shift to the right - you know who you are

[BuddhaRhubarb]

So the majority government has been in power, the budget has been brought in, the legislative agenda has been announced and the sum of all those events is - status quo.

I wont bother going through the thread to highlight which of us predicted this outcome and which people predicted some kind dramatic shift to the right - you know who you are

It's going to take more than one budget (where 4 billion dollars of "fat" is being trimmed in some unspecified manner to convince me of the forthrightness of the government. Not everyone gets won over by a month or so of staying the course.

[crazy canuck]

So the majority government has been in power, the budget has been brought in, the legislative agenda has been announced and the sum of all those events is - status quo.

I wont bother going through the thread to highlight which of us predicted this outcome and which people predicted some kind dramatic shift to the right - you know who you are

It's going to take more than one budget (where 4 billion dollars of "fat" is being trimmed in some unspecified manner to convince me of the forthrightness of the government. Not everyone gets won over by a month or so of staying the course.

I dont think anything is going to win you or others over.  I am pointing out that people had fears about this particular budget. 

[BuddhaRhubarb]

So the majority government has been in power, the budget has been brought in, the legislative agenda has been announced and the sum of all those events is - status quo.

I wont bother going through the thread to highlight which of us predicted this outcome and which people predicted some kind dramatic shift to the right - you know who you are

It's going to take more than one budget (where 4 billion dollars of "fat" is being trimmed in some unspecified manner to convince me of the forthrightness of the government. Not everyone gets won over by a month or so of staying the course.

I dont think anything is going to win you or others over.  I am pointing out that people had fears about this particular budget. 

I don't think it's impossible to win me over. But calling for 4 billion in cuts in ludicrous. Why? look where cuts always (and this is how he Libs operated in the 90's too) affect the things I care about first - Education, Health Care, Arts. ("luckily" the arts gets almost nothing now anyways so the effect will be minimal)  You won't see any cuts to MPs ridiculous salaries, or expense accounts, or cuts to any kind of big business. Just a continued widening of the gap between the rich and the poor, and more prisons to house those poor people who get desperate enough to do something wrong.

If the gov cut real government spending, (fatcat salaries, redundancy, etc) and cut tax breaks for huge businesses that in fact only have the impact of keeping people underpaid, overworked then I'd be pleased no matter who did it.

[Neil]

Are MP salaries really that ridiculous?  Even if they were working for free, that'd only save about $50 million, and I think the effects of allowing only independently wealthy people to be MPs would annoy you even more than cuts to the arts.  Besides, widening the gap between rich and poor is an inevitable product of the modern information economy.

I assure you that health care is 'real' government spending.

[crazy canuck]

If the gov cut real government spending, (fatcat salaries, redundancy, etc) and cut tax breaks for huge businesses that in fact only have the impact of keeping people underpaid, overworked then I'd be pleased no matter who did it.

The only impact for huge business (whatever that is) is keeping people underpaid and overworked? 

[Grey Fox]

We need to cut the tax breaks & subsidies to the Oil Companies and use that money to build a deep sea port in the Artic.

Gawd, fucking damn it.

[Neil]

Tax breaks to rather profitable oil companies aren't such a great idea, but then again the government has put itself in the business of exchanging tax breaks for job creation for some years now.