Hard to argue with the logic.... :D

Michale.....

HP moderated THAT!???

Wonder what they had to say about Maher's Palin comment, eh?? 'Prolly not a damn thing... :^/

I have known for quite a while now that, while HP (and many Leftist blogs, etc) claim they are all about listening to new ideas and other liberal benchmarks, in actuality they are as totalitarian as they accuse the Right of being..

CW.COM is the shining beacon of exception that proves that rule... :D

Now, pardon my while I wipe this brown stuff off my nose. :D

Revolution No.6

Operation: Bracket Buster

Good one!! :D

Michale.....

Operation: Libya is NOT a part of the female anatomy

Revolution No.6

Operation: Bracket Buster

as i'm sure you've observed, the 2-party system isn't exactly all roses either. voting minorities here are even less relevant, since neither major party has any real use for their support. still, thank you for the insight into the grass not always being greener up north.

~joshua

Chris, what is going on up in Canada, you ask? Typical Canadian politics, of course.

Yes, we are headed to the polls in May in what will be the fourth general election in seven years. This craziness is a result of our minority government (an absolute joy of having descended into a multi-party system ... more about that later) losing a vote of non-confidence on an issue none other than the ‘contempt of parliament’ for "breaching the privilege of MPs by not supplying sufficient documentation on the estimated costs of corporate tax cuts, proposed crime legislation and the F-35 fighter jet procurement" - I kid you, not - as reported by the inestimable news network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the CBC, as we affectionately call it. The role of the media in all of this, by the way, deserves a separate post, as you might expect.

Actually, this is a first for us - not the vote of non-confidence, which has happened a handful of times in our relatively short history, but the ‘contempt of parliament’ option has never been used before. Not that it couldn’t have been used, mind you - but, that’s a whole other story.

I’ll bet an unlimited number of quatloos that there is no other democracy on the planet that has had to endure more meaningless elections in any given time period than Canada. Do we win some sort of prize for that?

And, what’s amusing about it this time around, though not at all surprising, is that our electorate, in all of its infinite wisdom, is poised to re-elect the same minority Conservative government that just fell. Because we don’t want an intellectual leading our country –– a Liberal Prime Minister Michael Ignatieff might work towards restoring Canada’s place in the world, after all. And, besides, he descends from Russian aristocracy and, worse than that, has lived in the US for many years before entering Canadian politics, teaching at the Carr Center for Human Rights at Harvard University, no less. Oh, and he’s written a few excellent books, too.

During the last few decades we have had little in the way of visionary political leadership in this country. And, for much of that period, we have essentially lived under a single ‘centrist’ national party system (aka the Liberal Party of Canada). The “right” had been extremely fragmented; the “left” or ... ahem ... progressives have been mostly irrelevant in terms of having anywhere near the level of support to form a national government; and, the rest is hell bent on breaking up the country ... another constitutional crisis is always on the horizon.

These days, the Liberals and Conservatives seem to have traded positions in the power game while the progressives are still, well, irrelevant. Oh, yes, and now we have the Green Party with official status at the national level. And, then there is the Communist Party of Canada whose main raison d’etre is to destroy capitalism and make a perfect society ... I’m kidding!

As a result of this political landscape, we are destined to be blessed with minority governments for the foreseeable future. And so, if you don’t like who we elect this time around, then just wait five minutes.

Our politics, domestic and otherwise, revolve around a petty and constant preoccupation with matters of power - who’s got it, how can we get more of it, and how to stop anyone else from taking it away. Why on earth else do you think we have had to suffer recently through a general election during Christmas?!

The opposition parties, if they may be called that, exist with the sole apparent purpose to uncover scandal at every turn, ad nauseam. Our media, lazy AND cynical to the extreme, happily urge them on in their worthless pursuits. What’s a poor voting public to do - most of us are too cynical to care or too brain dead to know.

One prime minister actually said that election campaigns were not the time for substantial policy debate. Right she was. Today, the overarching issue of this 35-day campaign (you read that right - 35 days!) is not centered on any domestic or foreign policy debate. Oh, no ... it’s about an issue that won’t even be an issue until AFTER the election. Of course the media is wholly obsessed by this non-issue known already as ‘the c-word’ ... that would be ‘coalition’. The burning issue of this day is what will happen if Canadians elect yet another minority government - who will form a coalition with whom to earn the confidence of the House of Commons and win all of the fringe benefits that come with winning the power game.

Y’all can consider yourselves lucky that you don’t get a regular does of this stuff!

Thirdly, what the heck is going on up in Canada, Liz? Fill us in! Are you about to have an election, or what? My vote would be for William Shatner for PM, but then that's just me... (1,000 quatloos sez Michale would vote the same, too...)

:-)

Well, it's not everyday that I am invited to rant at length and on Canadian politics ...no less, indeed!

I'll get right on it ... just remember, you asked for it!

Suffice to say, for now, that the apparent exclusion of William Shantner (though,he's hosting the Juno's tonight, you know - things could change) from the list of illustrious leaders who will be vying for the prime ministership this May, does not mean that this campaign will be comsumed by any less hilarity, not by any stretch of the imagination. :(

Later ... :)

http://www.dabblestone.com/oddities_files/ood_dr_who.jpg

ZOIDBERG!!!!! :D

Michale.....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370371/Vice-Presidents-staff-lock-journalist-closet-hours-fundraiser-stop-talking-guests.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

THIS is "transparency"???

It's especially ironic because Obama's spokesman has stated regarding Libya's treatment of reporters, "journalists should be protected and allowed to do their work."

Michale.....

The surprise comes from the GOP using a technique that has been perfected by Democrats.. :D

Or maybe not so surprising.. :D

Michale.....

Here's two I posted over in the DU comments, in an attempt to goad them into entering the contest:

"The Vacation War"

"The War Against The Leader Whose Name Cannot Be Spelled Correctly"

Heh.

-CW

I love these contest blogs.

Operation Odyssey Dawn spells out Ood, a cool alien species from Dr. Who, with tentacles coming out of their faces.

http://www.dabblestone.com/oddities_files/ood_dr_who.jpg

If we want to be consistent with the acronyms, we could call it Operation Independent Libya

Or how about "Operation Abdicate" - since it seems to be both what we want qadaffi to do and what we want to do ourselves.

Au Contraire.... Obama DID seek permission..

And I think that's the basis for the GOP's (and Joe Q Public's) concern..

Obama ignored the American People and Congress and sought permission from the UN...

That's frak'ed up, no matter how you slice it...

Michale.....

"Stop right there! I have the only working phaser ever built. It was fired only once to keep William Shatner from making another album."
-Comic Book Guy, THE SIMPSONS

:D

Michale.....

Just to point out your MDDOTW winners from last week that shows Dirty Tricks are not the sole province of the Right. :D

First, this was obviously written before Obama announced his Monday address to the nation.

What's up with THAT!?? Usually the Presidential Address is a way for an administration to "sell" the war to the American People.

I would wager that most Americans have already made up their minds about the Libya War, so a Presidential Address makes little sense so late in the game.

Much like the Libya war itself. It makes no sense to start a war to save people when the people you are trying to save have been slaughtered nearly to extinction...

Unless.... Hmmmmmmmmm Could this be an example of Obama's 10-Dimensional Chess??

Think about it... It's well known and documented that Libya's rebel faction is made up of either people who have Al Qaeda connections or people who would likely WANT to have Al Qaeda connections.

If I were President, I wouldn't want those rebels to be TOO strong when Daffy was taken out... So, I would let Daffy vent out his frustrations (and his military hardware) on people who I really don't like anyways and, once the good bad guys (as opposed to Daffy's forces, the bad bad guys) were whittled down enough, THEN I would send in the cavalry to save the day..

That's just crazy enough to make sense....

I don't actually believe that Obama really thought it thru that far, but if I were he, I would start leaking that THAT was my plan all along...

My vote would be for William Shatner for PM, but then that's just me... (1,000 quatloos sez Michale would vote the same, too...)

:-)

Safe bet. :D

I was perusing my Streaming NetFlix the other night and came across a nice little gem...

COMEDY CENTRAL'S WILLIAM SHATNER ROAST

Despite my well-known proclivity to soak up anything to do with TV and Movies, this was actually the first "roast" I have ever watched.

I have to admit I was somewhat taken aback by the blatant racist and gay jokes that were prevalent throughout the show..

But all of that paled in comparison to Shatner's rendition of ROCKET MAN.. :D That er... "performance" alone should prevent Shatner from EVER holding political office. :D

Michale.....

First, this was obviously written before Obama announced his Monday address to the nation.

Second, between the beginning and the end of the writing of this article, I went to the dentist and had a tooth filled. I'll leave it for you to decide which parts were written before -- and which after -- the administration of the N2O.

Thirdly, what the heck is going on up in Canada, Liz? Fill us in! Are you about to have an election, or what? My vote would be for William Shatner for PM, but then that's just me... (1,000 quatloos sez Michale would vote the same, too...)

:-)

-CW