(no subject)

[theweaselking]

Canadian government falls.

Sadly, all this means is that the election will result in YET ANOTHER CPC(non-communist) minority. Why? Because NOBODY wants an American who supported Bush, favours torture, and generally would be right at home in the far-right Democratic Party were he still south of the border, and so Iggy ain't getting in. He's not ALONE in tanking his party, though - the fact that the next choice down is the man who singlehandedly scuttled the economy of Ontario through ideologically-based fiscal malpractice doesn't help at all.

And since the CPC(non-communist) have been destructive mostly in terms of missed opportunities and failure to correct longstanding ills, they're going to get re-elected. Nobody is stupid enough to let them have a majority, but NOBODY wants Iggy or That Asshole, and after that you've got the Separatists (who can't form a government, even if they wanted to, which they don't) and the NDP - who, while That Fuckwit was running them before he jumped ship, scuttled the economy of Ontario through ideologically-based fiscal malpractice.

I, of course, am entirely free to vote for whomever I want because Brigadier General Fuckwit McScienceHater is going to be re-elected. This is the guy who thinks owning any device that uses iTunes should be a criminal offense[1], and as far as I can tell nobody who has ever served with him would piss on him unless he was both on fire AND they were sure they definitely would not be putting the fire out by doing so.

[1]: And not for "dumb should be illegal" arguments, either. No, this is an IP thing. Hint: Michael Geist is right. When he disagrees with you, you are wrong. This is a VERY easy litmus test for anyone to use when discussing technology law.

Comments

[fridgepunk.livejournal.com]

Does Canada have a "Conservative Part of Party (communist)"? Why not vote for them?

It is, however, sad to see that it's unlikely that Canada's participation in "Operation Don't Look Elsewhere Because Damn" will be unlikely to lead to any meaningful regime change.

On the other hand, an election does mean that the HarperBot can't actually pass anything into law for a while, so there's that.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Does Canada have a "Conservative Part of Party (communist)"? Why not vote for them?

First: Yes, and they have the prior claim to "CPC", which is why they are the CPC and the Conservative Party are "CPC(non-communist)".

Second: Because they won't win, and if they did win it would be disastrous. Two good reasons to not vote CPC!

an election does mean that the HarperBot can't actually pass anything into law for a while, so there's that.

Meh. Canadian elections are over in the blink of an eye, and Harper couldn't pass anything too objectionable ANYWAY since any time he tried the other three parties just voted it down.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Er, there is a "Communist Party Of Canada", who are the CPC. The Conservative Party Of Canada are the second "CPC", so they get the disambiguation.

(This is better than their previous name, the Canadian Reform Alliance Party. No, really. They picked it themselves, in eerie prescience of the Teabaggers).

[secretagentmoof]

ISTR This Hour Has 22 Minutes having a field day with that acronym; didn't they have some other name in between, though?

[snakey.livejournal.com]

an election does mean that the HarperBot can't actually pass anything into law for a while, so there's that.

Including Bill C-389. *sigh*

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

Does Canada have a "Conservative Part of Party (communist)"?

Well, it does have a "Communist Party of Canada" that can claim prior art on the "CPC" abbreviation. Observers outside the Conservative Party of Canada tend to point to the irony of the far left and (what passes for) the far right of the Canadian political spectrum sharing the same initials.

-- Steve's still at a total loss for worthwhile candidates... maybe it's time to fly the New Rhino flag or something.

[snakey.livejournal.com]

I've seen a lot of far right here and not a lot of far left..at least by european standards. :/

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

I think the CPC (wikipedia page) counts as far left by anyone's standards, save maybe for the Marxist-Leninist Party that splintered from it after the USSR's breakup. However, I will grant that CPC (Communist) candidates are very much thinner on the ground than CPC (non-Communist) candidates.

-- Steve may have had his sense of "left/right" skewed by his proximity to his neighbours to the south... who, at the moment, make Atilla look like a pinko.

[cosmiccat.livejournal.com]

Harper is a soulless monster; seriously, there is no picture of him where he does not have terrifying dead eyes. If he weren't Prime Minister I think he'd be stacking up dead prostitutes in his basement freezer. Maybe he is a sweet family man who is just cursed with serial-killer face, but still... brrr.

Government fell on a contempt charge, at least, so the other parties can hammer him with that for a couple months. I don't hold out much hope for a Liberal or NDP minority, but stranger things have happened... and Harper has a whole five weeks to shoot himself in the foot, something for which he has demonstrated a wonderful aptitude.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

That being said: I object to the NDP writing budgets on historical principle, but at least a minority would have the same problems and CPC did. I most definitely do NOT want a Liberal majority while Iggy and That Asshole are anywhere near the levers.

At this point, lacking GOOD options, I'm holding out for Prime Minister Gilles Duceppe. That would be awesome, and the video of him hearing the news would be up on youtube in an hour and amusing for DECADES.

And, really, Harper *doesn't* shoot himself in the foot, that's why he's been around so long. He is absolutely superhuman at muzzling the real opinions of his supporters and party members, and ensuring that none of their real opinions make it out to the public. It's like Stormfront and FreeRepublic and the BNP's "no outing" policy, but it *actually works*.

[snakey.livejournal.com]

...that's not a sweatervest. o.O

[cosmiccat.livejournal.com]

He is totally eyeing his next victim in that picture. "Oh yes, she'd be delicious with A1 sauce."

Gilles Duceppe lies somewhere between Affably Evil and Refuge In Audacity. He is here to loot and pillage the country for the glory of Quebec and doesn't even try to hide it. Unlike previous BQ leaders, though, he does it with a touch of class.

I don't see a majority anything happening (in a nightmare future, maybe the cons). Liberal minority would be the lesser of two evils. NDP would be ... interesting, at least, on everything other than the budget.

[dscotton.livejournal.com]

Off topic - here's some good Guess The State fodder:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/florida/woman-92-goes-ballistic-after-being-denied-kiss-874093

[nsanity-au.livejournal.com]

This is the guy who thinks owning any device that uses iTunes should be a criminal offense

I like this person already.

iTunes is about as desirable as boils on my genitals.

Then again, I envy the idea of government in Canada. In Australia we just have "he said, she said politics" with only 2 major parties which are basically ever so slightly right-centrist and almost-as-right-centrist.

There are minor parties that show up time to time and get to hold the balance of power in the senate, but in general nothing overly radical ever gets done.

[kierthos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but there's a bit of a difference between "I hate iTunes, everything they stand for, and you won't see me using it before Hell freezes over" and "YOU HAFF ZE iTUNES! YOU VILL BE SHOT!"

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

More "you are in possession of software that can convert a CD into MP3s, or that can write DRM-protected MP3s to a CD. This is possession of a tool that can be used for copyright infringement, which is itself a declaration of intent to commit fraud, which is a crime."

My idiot MP supports and keeps sponsoring the "Canadian DMCA" bill every chance he gets. And it's a complete piece of shit law, MUCH worse than the DMCA was.

[kierthos.livejournal.com]

You're just going to keep taking away my image of a iTunes user facing a firing squad (at dawn, no less), aren't you?

:P

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

iTunes is bad, yes, but he wants ownership of iTunes to be illegal because he wants anything that will convert a CD into MP3s, or allow more than one person access to an item in a music library, to be illegal.

In the process, he'd also make anything that can play a DVD on Linux illegal, he'd make installing mods to something like Fallout or Oblivion illegal, and while he left in an exception to allow you to make a "legitimate backup for personal purposes", he wanted to make the tools required to do so illegal.

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

What's Kevin Rudd doing there?

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

yeaaaaah, I did wonder how someone as obvious a dickshit as Harper could keep getting re-elected, then I saw the opposition.

Ouch.

and I thought the UK had a tough set of choices.
Good luck with that :(

[ice-hesitant.livejournal.com]

Because NOBODY wants an American who supported Bush, favours torture, and generally would be right at home in the far-right Democratic Party were he still south of the border, and so Iggy ain't getting in.

You are overestimating the average Canadian.

Nobody is stupid enough to let them have a majority

Again, you are overestimating the average Canadian. We are the nation that elected Rob Ford as mayor of Toronto. (Yeah, yeah, only a fifth of Canada gets to vote for mayor of Toronto.)

Before the campaign, Harper is polling well enough (http://threehundredeight.blogspot.com/) to have a good shot at a majority. Simultaneously, I'm going to guess that Count Ignatieff has something up his sleeve that might make Harper implode. If nothing else, a month of whaling at Harper with the contempt-arrogance-entitlement bat could work. I'd actually venture 50:50 odds for status quo:something different this time around.