This is why Spain Won

At least Buffon knows why...

Year In Review

Best Moment: Gomery Verdict Completely Thrown Out
I would have gone with the Residential Schools apology but nothing, and I mean nothing, can ever top the Gomery Inquiry as the worst political decision of all time. Paul Martin’s legacy continues to grow by the day.

Best LOLOLOL: Denise Brunsdon for YLC President
Speaking of the inevitable wunderkind turning into a laughing stock…

Worst Moment: Liberals abstaining for the entire first half of this year.
There is still enough of a Liberal soul living inside of me and little pieces of it kept dying every time I watched them sit on their hands.

Most Overrated: Martha Hall Findlay
I was at a Liberal event in Montreal where Martha was speaking. She said during her speech “Two years ago, nobody knew who I was.” The silence in the room got more hilarious by the second. Martha, the Deputy Finance critic sits in the front row while the actual finance critic sits in the second row. Can someone explain this to me?

Most Underrated: Dan Arnold. Future Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party.
I know he isn’t elected yet but Dan really is a shoe-in for Premier. Dan studied math. Ed Stelmach is stupid. Shout a bunch of numbers at him dude, and he will disappear faster than a Maple Leafs player with a multi-year contract.

Worst Campaign Idea: The gimme here is Oily the Splotch.
However, my favorite part of this ad campaign is that the Tories never checked with the company they planned to advertise with to see if they ran political ads. THIS IS WHAT THE DEATH STAR DELIVERS…

Best Political Move: The Carbon Tax.
Here we have great leadership with Stephane Dion, who DARED propose something as bold as a carbon tax when everybody told him it was impossible. Why did nobody think of proposing a carbon tax before?

Worst Political Move: Jack Layton being against a carbon tax. The NDP’s aim is to box in the Liberals between them and Harper. Layton then allowed Dion and May to box him in. This will hurt the NDP at the polls.

Is Justin Learning...Or Am I?

Seriously, I dont see why Justin Trudeau still thinks I am out to get him. As I am quickly learning in journalism school, people like Justin Trudeau are a reporter's dream. Why? Because he speaks in printable quotes.

I know the criticism during the nomination was a little rough, but I came around and so did many of my former Liberal colleagues. The way Justin works the riding and with the name recognition in the ethnic areas, Vivianne Barbot will have ALOT of trouble holding on there. I spoke to some Bloc people over the St. Jean holiday as well. They are quite worried...

Looks like the Liberals may just pick up Quebec seats after all...

I asked Justin about what the fete nationale means to him. Like many of the events in his riding, Justin was celebrating his ethnic heritage, (in his case French Canadian) and he was doing so by stylishly wearing a ceinture flechee, traditional garb of the coureurs de bois right out of your grade 10 Canadian history books... (I wore a ceinture flechee during the debate outside radio canada in 2006. The separatists were wondering why only the Liberals had them and they didnt haha...good times)

Separatists believe that the ceinture flechee is a symbol for them, but really, being French Canadian and being separatist are not the same thing, and besides, the belt was around long before French Canadians had anything to separate from.

Here are Justin's quotes by the way, just for Braeden and Dan Arnold... (the second one is slightly edited for gramattical coherence, I have it on tape)

"There is less of a branding of this as a separatist holiday and there is much more of a redefined “nous” that Pauline Marois is struggling with. We are proud to be Quebecers, proud of our identity and proud to celebrate this holiday like anyone else."

"It is a francophone celebration. There is a sentiment of Quebec identity in the traditional aspects of it; a lot of the folkloric Quebec fiddle music, although last night we even saw some hip hop and Maghreb rap. There is more of a celebration of where we are going as a plural community than there is a singular identity that for so long has colored Quebec."

Plural community including all Quebecers eh?

Justin Trudeau will make a great Liberal Quebec MP after all...

Autonomy

When a province is seen to have no interference from the federal government it is deemed to be autonomous. Stephen Harper’s vision of Canada is rather decentralized so for Harper to say he wants an autonomous Quebec since if you ever did any background research of the guy, this position should surprise nobody.

I believe it is time for a real debate in this country about federalism and about the type of federalism we want.

We either want a Canada where levels of government co-operate or levels of government where everybody minds their own business and sticks to their areas of jurisdiction.

I hope in this debate we can state two options. Both sides have considerable expertise and explicitly entrenched positions. The traditional Liberal position is one of more co-operation between Ottawa and the provinces. Despite Stephane Dion’s record as a decentralist during his time as minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, the Harper position is far more decentralized.

I hope in this debate we can avoid fear-mongering. In neither position do we break up the country. Canada remains united with both these options, albeit in very different ways.

The best part of this debate is it further alienates the Bloc Quebecois. If we can craft a debate around a choice of federalism, we give Quebecers two positive options to debate. At the end of the day, the Bloc will continue to accomplish nothing for Quebecers. It is now flirting with historical lows in the polls hovering in the low 30s. (although I guess “no federalism” can be considered to be an option.)

This is certainly an exciting for people who like this kind of stuff. As long as both sides remain mature about all this, (highly unlikely but worth mentioning nonetheless) a very significant debate can take place and Canada can chart its place forward.

Is Carbon Tax Copyrighted?

It seems the Liberals have “borrowed” the name of their term for the carbon tax from a little company who offers green solutions to other companies.

This little company is losing business for having its name associated with the Liberal Carbon Tax. Naturally this company isn’t too pleased and is going to sue.

I don’t understand copyright laws very well, but I do think any sort of political concept is difficult to copyright. If I had a corporation called Liberal that preceded the Liberal Party, can I get the Liberal Party to change names? Probably not.

Either way, this is free publicity for both of them. A fake copyright infringement story on the front pages of Canadian newspapers will keep this idea in the consciousness of Canadians a little longer.

It is too bad though that the Liberals were too afraid to call their plan carbon tax, because if Canadians are smart enough to understand a carbon tax (green shift) and they will be able to see who gets taxed by it, then they would have no problem calling it a carbon tax.

Friday Caption Contest

I support the Carbon Tax 100%

However, this clapping thing may well become the gift that keeps giving



Bob: Can you believe we lost to a guy who wants to clap his way to 24 Sussex?

Michael: Shut up Bob! I'm just trying to focus on not laughing.

Things that Make Me LOL

I blatantly ripped this off my friend Alex's Facebook, it is pure win!

edit: which was shamelessly ripped off from slate.com, clearly none of us have any standards...

Subject: WHO IS BARACK OBAMA?

There are many things people do not know about BARACK OBAMA. It is every American's duty to read this message and pass it along to all of their friends and loved ones.

Barack Obama wears a FLAG PIN at all times. Even in the shower.

Barack Obama says the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE every time he sees an American flag. He also ends every sentence by saying, "WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL." Click here for video of Obama quietly mouthing the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE in his sleep.

A tape exists of Michelle Obama saying the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE at a conference on PATRIOTISM.

Every weekend, Barack and Michelle take their daughters HUNTING.Barack Obama is a PATRIOTIC AMERICAN. He has one HAND over his HEART at all times. He occasionally switches when one arm gets tired, which is almost never because he is STRONG.

Barack Obama has the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE tattooed on his stomach. It's upside-down, so he can read it while doing sit-ups.

There's only one artist on Barack Obama's iPod: FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.

Barack Obama is a DEVOUT CHRISTIAN. His favorite book is the BIBLE, which he has memorized. His name means HE WHO LOVES JESUS in the ancient language of Aramaic. He is PROUD that Jesus was an American.

Barack Obama goes to church every morning. He goes to church every afternoon. He goes to church every evening. He is IN CHURCH RIGHT NOW.

Barack Obama's new airplane includes a conference room, a kitchen, and a MEGACHURCH.

Barack Obama's skin is the color of AMERICAN SOIL.Barack Obama buys AMERICAN STUFF. He owns a FORD, a BASEBALL TEAM, and a COMPUTER HE BUILT HIMSELF FROM AMERICAN PARTS. He travels mostly by FORKLIFT.

Barack Obama says that Americans cling to GUNS and RELIGION because they are AWESOME.

Jupiter Falls

A tree as old as this country crashed onto Milton street in the McGill Ghetto. The maple tree, affectionately known as Jupiter was felled by a violent storm which ripped through Montreal Tuesday afternoon. The gusts of wind reached as high as 110 km/h but the storm passed quickly through the city, lasting no longer than 15 minutes.

Although some originally thought lightning took down the tree, after observing the area, Montreal city workers believed it was likely the wind which caused the collapse. One onlooker, who did not give his name, recounted what happened. "There was a loud noise, a crack. Then the tree twisted a couple of times, and crashed through the fence."

Nicolas Rhodeus, a 14-year old FACE student, lives in the house where Jupiter resided for over a century. "The tree was great cover", he laughed, recalling the snowball fights during the winter and the water fights of the summer. After growing up with the tree his entire life, he sat stunned surveying the devastation the tree left in his backyard, and on Milton street.

As city workers cleared the street, many onlookers and a few summer students gaped at the mess in the street. One car took the brunt of the tree. It had a cracked windshield, a few dents, and a broken back windshield.

Nicolas said he will miss the tree, as well as the family of raccoons who lives there every year. "They left just last week." Lucky for them, as Jupiter, like his mythological counterpart, did not show any mercy for anything in his way.

Oil Speaks for Tories

I am in class so I cant post links just yet...

But is it me or does the new Tory ad campaign blasting the Liberal Carbon Tax actually have a PATCH OF OIL speaking for them.

never did I think the Conservatives would stoop so low to actually have oil speak for them on environmental issues...

Democrats in the US need to avoid the 3 Cherniak Laws of Party Unity

Sigh…

The American blogosphere has become ever more explosive since Barack Obama clinched the nomination. There is a lot of resentment, and both sides seem to have some behaving well, and some behaving really badly.

Firstly, there are some Clintonistas saying they want to vote for a moderate with experience. One must admit in the “moderate with experience” category, McCain has Obama beat, considering Obama isn’t moderate, nor really that experienced.

However, there are reasons people vote for President. Some want the cooler person, the one who they feel is more like them. Barack Obama wins a lot of support there. George W. Bush won many votes against Al Gore because Gore (who is hilarious btw) did appear like Al Gore the android…

Barack Obama is above blue states and red states. He wants to be a uniter, not a divider. I have heard this before as well. Not to mention the whole “im gonna change Washington bit.” This isn’t new. Bush the outsider vs. Gore the insider…

There will be voters from all over the place who will be voting for either McCain or Obama for all kinds of different reasons. They are drastically different. Nobody will be able to argue that they are the same candidate, like that Futurama episode with Jack Johnson and John Jackson.

However, the Democrats I have seen on the blogosphere are making me chuckle a little.



Being a great advocate of "party unity" myself…I have a little bit of advice.

If Clinton supporters are thinking of voting for McCain because he is a moderate and experienced, other Democrats should remind them McCain’s record of siding with Bush makes him rather right-wing. McCain’s maverick image is as solid as Bill Clinton’s popularity with Black people. As we have seen, no image is unchangeable.

Democrats can also argue that bad experience is not better than no experience. I remember a few people making that argument. It isn’t the best one, but one that can sway a few McCain Democrats to vote for Obama.

So here they are, the 3 Cherniak Laws of Party Unity

1) Do not call your opposition stupid. Do not call the supporters of the opposition stupid. This will make them angry, and probably vote against you out of spite. Do not say things like “I don’t understand how people do not see it my way”.

2) When half the party voted for somebody else, you need the other half. Include your opposition in the decision making process, and don’t call them out when they don’t blindly follow along. Having people like Bill Richardson saying things like, “Obama will remember you if you support before June 3rd,” is not helping anybody at this point. 300 superdelegates supported the other candidate. Are these people completely screwed? If Richardson becomes the VP, a lot of Clinton supporters will probably see it in a very negative way.

3) Do not question the “loyalty” of people who are skeptical of your party’s candidate. Calling Hillary supporters who want to vote for McCain things like “disloyal” and “not real Democrats” is not hurting anyone but the Democratic Party. Do not forget that if there is a term called “Reagan Democrats”, it means there are Democrats who have voted Republican in the past. Don’t antagonize people. I was a Liberal for 10 years. Saying I am not a Liberal because I did not support a bumbling disaster, who was not making any effort to stop bumbling or stop being a disaster, is insulting my intelligence and the intelligence of many others. If some Clinton supporters think Obama is a disaster, make them think otherwise, or at least try to. You won’t get them all, but you will get more than just calling all the Clintonistas “not real Democrats.”

Experts are Hard to Come By

So, for months the Conservatives listened long and hard at the Zytaruk tape. And despite Stephen Harper discussing what was said in the tape, after months of investigations and Iam sure, thousands of dollars to pay these “experts”, the Conservatives have determined that the tape was a FORGERY!

Why?

Because apparently, if a reporter stops the tape, then starts it again, he might as well throw the tape out the window.

So what is the moral of the story here folks? There are two.

If ever you say something stupid to a reporter, turn around and walk away. Then, when he turns the recorder off, "swivel around on your heels" and start talking again, so you can later unleash a pack of lawyers on the unassuming reporter.

Most importantly, the real lesson is...

If you have evil lawyers and millions of dollars to spend, you can make a decent enough allegation that anything is a forgery, even the Conservative Party of Canada…