Inspired by Dee.
She posted a reference to this and then a link to Jennifer Smiths blog. Excellent blogger btw. Sharp and has a dry wit that I like. Below is a link to her second blog, Halton Watch and the entry of Jan 12th on Raitt's town hall meeting is there.
http://haltonwatch.blogspot.com/
Why Halton you may wonder? Not like we haven't heard enough of that strange little burgh recently, wot? Well, read Jennifer's take on the meeting and the substance of it. It's pretty much self explanatory.
Now for a little commentary. Holding town halls and offering an exchange on issues of interest to the general public doesn't necessarily mean the conservatives intend to listen, but it sure does play well with the masses. Is The Group of One getting it? Could be.
Now on to Ignatieff briefly. Connecting with the street folk is something I have felt is a problem for him. I have stated this elsewhere and to his #1 organizer, but it appears to me they know better. Ok, I didn't run a successful political campaign against a badly divided right. Something for which the bows never seem to cease. But, I do have a sense for people, and while #1 organizer guy is busy kissing butt for bucks, the street people have 4 things they can associate to Iggy.
1. No democratic leadership convention.
2. When he talks publicly, he doesn't say anything or contradicts what he has said before. (Except Gaza)
3. He mimicked the conservatives on Gaza.
4. When he speaks publicly, he is very Stately and composed, while he is dodging giving meaningful answers and engaging in straight talk.
None of that has anything to do with spin, like the coalition issue. Them's the facts.
My impression of the Ignatieff camp so far, and I apologize if someone else has used this twist of Ignatieff's words first;
A Liberal if necessary, but not necessarily a Liberal
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Och aye the noo, und hoots mon! A bonny day to all, und here in Lotusland! Does anyone detect a touch of the Scotsman in me? Could be . . .
ReplyDelete------
A Scotsman moves to Canada and attends his first baseball game.
The first batter approaches the batters' box, takes a few swings and then hits a double.
Everyone is on their feet screaming "Run!!!"
The next batter hits a single.
The Scotsman listens as the crowd again cheers "RUN!! RUN!!"
The Scotsman is enjoying the game and begins screaming with the fans.
The fifth batter comes up and four balls go by. The Umpire calls: "Walk."
The batter starts his slow trot to first base.
The Scot stands up and Screams "Run ye lazy bastard, run!"
The people around him begin laughing.
Embarrassed, the Scot sits back down.
A friendly fan notes the man's embarrassment leans over and explains,
"He can't run -- he has four balls."
The Scot stands up and screams:
"Walk with pride, Laddie!"
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I won't comment on Lisa Raitt's blog -- others are well versed than I am, plus Canada is much better off having Garth outside the HoC.
This is part of a comment on Garth's Real Estate (North Vancouver #21) and Business blog today; when joined with this link, it shows that if the US greenback goes up, pretty much everything else is going down, including the loonie.
So forewarned is forearmed. If gold bullion, along with silver continues sliding (see comment), it may be worth switching extra cash into hard assets for the next few years. -- http://tinyurl.com/7zlz35
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"1/ …The supply increases causing the price to drop. . . .2/ Look for a strengthening U.S. dollar vs other currencies; Look for U.K. and Germany’s economies to implode; Expect a trade war between China and the U.S.; Look for gold to drop to $400 or less; Look for Saskatchewan, Alberta and BC statistics underlying they are the safest Canadian Provinces to live in."
The UK pound was worth less than the Euro a week or so ago; the Euro has slid against the US Buck, and the Ruble is going down, but the Yuan is holding its own, even making gains against the buck.
So I can see where a trade war between China and the US starts, as the US has little, if anything left to back their currency with.
Add in all this hush-hush military stuff happening, most of which is never reported in the msm and the Chinese proverb comes to the fore:
"May you live in interesting times". Hard times yes, but interesting times as well.
The Mossad / CIA was behind the Bombay bombings and Pakistan gets the blame; Pakistan is right next to Iran. The Mossad was also responsible to Turkey's incidents a few days ago but again, nothing is pinned to them, mostly because of US interference.
The Wheel of Life always turns, grinds exceedingly finely and evens everything out.
Ahhh...Man Charles!
ReplyDelete'This is part of a comment on Garth's Real Estate (North Vancouver #21) and Business blog today; when joined with this link, it shows that if the US greenback goes up, pretty much everything else is going down, including the loonie.'
Take a gander @ the Symbiotic relationship entry:
http://angrybear.blogspot.com/
Who in the world is going to buy the U.S. debt? This is going to get really messy. I suppose they could try to stir up wars in other countries so people will buy their weapons.
Ain't life grand?
Comrade? Jennifer just posted an interesting entry about Gaza on her rune blog site.
ReplyDeleteI could just cry for all those poor people.
Re: angrybear.It's a fine conundrum they've created ain't it?
ReplyDeleteI'll check out the entry at Jennifer's. There's a lot more I want to say about all that, but I'm trying to hold my tongue. I am going to tackle one aspect soon though. The antisemitic stick that comes out whenever someone with some profile criticizes the Israeli government.
Sometimes it's best to sit on the fence when it comes to these sort of issues. It's only certain Jewish sects who think this action is necessary. Oh! And the Evangelical Zionists and other various Christian groups. Some of the blogs are hinting that there is a lot of propaganda within Israel and if Israelis really knew what was going on they would try to put a stop to it. Don't know if that's true or not?
ReplyDeleteInteresting when people use the racist card when anyone criticizes Israel. Brings out the narcissism. Israel is perfect.
Some commentators are saying it is anti-semitic to describe what's going on in Gaza as genocide. I looked up the legal U.N. definition of genocide (1948, Article 2), seems to fit. But what is the U.N. ?
Remember when Manley was immgration?? Egads! Take about not understanding the issues, culture and history. Better to keep it zipped. "Little dis', little dat', we have to study issue a little closer. Blah, blah, blah...'
Then work quietly behind the scenes.;)
About Manley? His little incident happened years ago and it still sticks out in my mind. He is not one of my favs.
All of it Spam. No one is going to help those poor people just as no one is going to help the Sudanese. Makes me feel sad.
Dee said, "Who in the world is going to buy the U.S. debt? This is going to get really messy. I suppose they could try to stir up wars in other countries so people will buy their weapons. Ain't life grand?"
ReplyDeleteHello Dee. No one is going to buy any debt now, 'coz there ain't enough new money to go around anymore! It was either CM or CMS that said on Garth's political blog a while back, there was now more debt than equity in the world.
Technically we're all broke, and by all of us, I mean the entire global population. None of us has any assets -- if we do, they've all depreciated to zero -- so yes, The Cycle Of Nines which I spoke of earlier has taken hold and most don't even realize it.
The wars and deflationary cycle is also going full tilt, followed by hyperinflation then lots of nasty things. Mind you, there's nothing anyone can do about it, so life is still grand!
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These links indicate we're already in a depression, along with figures to back it up. -- http://tinyurl.com/a4l4wy http://tinyurl.com/ayblgd
This one is a video clip of riots in Lithunia -- http://tinyurl.com/7xmy37 -- as well, half of the Americans surveyed said they were 'just getting by'; are these the folk who will end up being drafted to fight more wars? I guess so.
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To add to the present stuff of the world, a backlash is starting against Israel -- different countries, businesses, conglomerates are seeing first-hand what is happening to the Gazan people, so they are talking with their wallets. Effective boycotts will bring Israel down to size.
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY! (Courtesy wrh.com)
"When the IMF and the World Bank force a country to cut wages, lay off workers, produce for export instead of their own people, and sell off public property to cronies for less than its value, that's called "economic reform." -- Robert Naiman, Toward Freedom magazine, November 1999, p
Spot on! Just what this world needs! More and more economic reform!
BTW, should I remove the http:// from the links and go with the long-form only?
Charlesius,
ReplyDeleteNorth Vancouver Citizen used to fly under the handle of Real Estate Expert, and proved that he was not by opinions such as Vancouver being the next financial and culturl capital etc. Must be a soulmate of Hairy's.
On conspiracies, I am a firm believer in Occam's Razor: "Entities [such as reasons or explanations] should not be multiplied beyond necessity."
Dee,
through embarrassed silence, we have allowed Israel and its supporters to eliminate the middle ground and divide all opinion into pro-Semitic or anti-Semitic. As long as the Middle Eastern policy of America (and Canada) is held hostage by the domestic Jewish minority (1.7% of a US population of 303.8 M), any backlash in other countries does not matter.
re. Ignatieff, I cannot see him igniting (pun intended) the masses. Personally I am put off by the thin smile he produces on demand. Rae would have been the better rabble rouser.
ReplyDeleteIf Ignatieff winds up as PM, it will be by default: the rejection of Harper and the CPC by voters, as Martin and the LPC were rejected when Harper would up as PM.
Which leads me to declare my interest and opinion on any tie-in with partisan blogs: stay non-partisan progressive (whatever "progressive" actually may mean.)
'through embarrassed silence, we have allowed Israel and its supporters to eliminate the middle ground and divide all opinion into pro-Semitic or anti-Semitic. '
ReplyDeleteI totally agree but politicians have tread water carefully in case it comes back to bite them. That whole Iraq thing? I think Obama was one of the few who voted against it and he Read the documents. Clinton voted for it and she said she didn't read the documents.
What Harper and the other one did was wrong. They took sides. If a politician condemned the actions of the Israeli military against Civilians what would the spin look like? If you support the Palestinians are you supporting Hamas? No, but it could be spun than way.
Kind of like what happened here with the coalition. You support the coalition therefore you support separatism. That's how it was spun at the time without the facts.
JMHO
Dee,
ReplyDeleteyou're absolutely right. The problem is that spin works because people are credulous and do not question the fact or logic of the spin.
That's why digital democracy is my "Great White Hope". Just continuing with politicians dishing up self-serving lies, spinmeisters spinning, and the MSM spreading will get us nowhere. More and more individuals questioning what they are fed and verifying information is the only thing that will change "nominal" democracy to real democracy.
'people are credulous and do not question the fact or logic of the spin.'
ReplyDeleteI talked to my Mum about the 'spin', she calls it another name. Over 70 and still full of spunky swearing. Anyways, she says that most people are too busy with their jobs and family. They believe the msm because it's quick and easy unless something doesn't feel right.
Like the plan the Liberals had during the last election? She said that if she didn't have one of us kids to explain it to her she would have been lost. "Not all immigrants have children who have the time to explain things, they're all too busy so they look at the news...."
Herb? It's been my observation that some people don't want to know the whole truth just bits and pieces of it.
Here's a link. "Israel soldiers say they have OK to use tough tactics in Gaza"
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/59704.html
Someone mentioned boycotts? There are companies in Israel that also do business in Europe. People are being asked to boycott their products and services. Off the top of my head Coca-cola, Nestle, and L'Oreal.
I can get a list if anyone is interested. I think more pain would be felt in the profit margins than any condemnation from a politician. Especially in this economic downturn.