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6/29/2004
Spanking the Conservatives
Back to the drawing board, Mr. Stephen Harper. Okay, okay. So the Cons got more seats than the PC and Alliance parties combined in the 2000 election. But so what? If the united Conservative Party can't muster any more than 99 seats after the sponsorship scandal and an ill-timed election call, it needs to reexamine its tactics.
Let's review. Nearly shut out in the Maritimes. Neutralized in Ontario. Shocked in B.C., actually losing seats to the Liberals and the NDP. What did they get? Fortress Alberta, O Texas of the North, and Saskatchewan. This is not the way to build a parliamentary majority, guys.
Now why do you suppose this happened? I humbly suggest that the following statements might have had something to do with it:
Stephen Harper (winner in Calgary Southwest riding): "[W]hile retaining a focus on economic issues, we must give greater place to social values and social conservatism, broadly defined and properly understood." Rest here.
Randy White (winner in Abbotsford, BC riding): "Well many people think that this is going to be an affront on such written testaments as the Bible, which ain't a proponent of homosexuality. One never knows where those kinds of things they're going to go. My experience in the House of Commons is they'll go to the lowest common denominator and that is there will still be court challenges on such issues such as churches and pastors, ministers advocating that homosexuality is not appropriate within the Christian format."
Tom Jackson (defeated in Hamilton Mountain, Ontario riding): "Our party has said there's not enough evidence in yet about global warming being a problem." (Flamborough Review, 6/18/04)
Jon Carey ( defeated in West Nova, Nova Scotia riding): "I personally support capital punishment. I think it's justice, quite honestly." (Halifax Daily News, 6/3/04)
Jason Kenney (winner in Calgary Southeast riding): "If they say they're personally opposed to abortion but they don't want to impose their opposition on society, ask them if they're personally opposed to child abuse, ask them if they're personally opposed to slavery." (Canadian Catholic News, 5/24/04)
Now, all of this may play well in Calgary, or for that matter, Waco. However, that's not where the votes are. And that kind of talk scares the bejesus out of socially moderate-to-liberal people in places where there are significant numbers of seats at stake. American-style social conservatism simply will not fly in urban areas. It's not polite.
Also, the obsessive focus on the 3 Gs - God, guns and gays - is doubly unfortunate because Westerners have legitimate grievances that deserve to be addressed. Economic exploitation by Ontario and Quebec, being treated as political afterthoughts in light of Central Canada's equally obsessive focus on Quebec separtism, lack of representation in the corridors of power. But too freakin' bad. If you think you're going to get a parliamentary majority by pushing junk science, capital punishment, homophobia and Biblical inerrancy, think again.
Let's review. Nearly shut out in the Maritimes. Neutralized in Ontario. Shocked in B.C., actually losing seats to the Liberals and the NDP. What did they get? Fortress Alberta, O Texas of the North, and Saskatchewan. This is not the way to build a parliamentary majority, guys.
Now why do you suppose this happened? I humbly suggest that the following statements might have had something to do with it:
Stephen Harper (winner in Calgary Southwest riding): "[W]hile retaining a focus on economic issues, we must give greater place to social values and social conservatism, broadly defined and properly understood." Rest here.
Randy White (winner in Abbotsford, BC riding): "Well many people think that this is going to be an affront on such written testaments as the Bible, which ain't a proponent of homosexuality. One never knows where those kinds of things they're going to go. My experience in the House of Commons is they'll go to the lowest common denominator and that is there will still be court challenges on such issues such as churches and pastors, ministers advocating that homosexuality is not appropriate within the Christian format."
Tom Jackson (defeated in Hamilton Mountain, Ontario riding): "Our party has said there's not enough evidence in yet about global warming being a problem." (Flamborough Review, 6/18/04)
Jon Carey ( defeated in West Nova, Nova Scotia riding): "I personally support capital punishment. I think it's justice, quite honestly." (Halifax Daily News, 6/3/04)
Jason Kenney (winner in Calgary Southeast riding): "If they say they're personally opposed to abortion but they don't want to impose their opposition on society, ask them if they're personally opposed to child abuse, ask them if they're personally opposed to slavery." (Canadian Catholic News, 5/24/04)
Now, all of this may play well in Calgary, or for that matter, Waco. However, that's not where the votes are. And that kind of talk scares the bejesus out of socially moderate-to-liberal people in places where there are significant numbers of seats at stake. American-style social conservatism simply will not fly in urban areas. It's not polite.
Also, the obsessive focus on the 3 Gs - God, guns and gays - is doubly unfortunate because Westerners have legitimate grievances that deserve to be addressed. Economic exploitation by Ontario and Quebec, being treated as political afterthoughts in light of Central Canada's equally obsessive focus on Quebec separtism, lack of representation in the corridors of power. But too freakin' bad. If you think you're going to get a parliamentary majority by pushing junk science, capital punishment, homophobia and Biblical inerrancy, think again.
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by Chris @ 7:54 AM
6/28/2004
Life is unfair
I wasn't sure I'd write about this, but something depressing happened over the weekend that has put me into a reflective funk. Stacey and I drove up to Stephenville on Friday, and a few miles from her mom's place, we saw an orange furball in the middle of the road. We turned back to see what it was, and it was a kitten, quite alive but inexplicably planted on the center line of a country road. Stacey jumped out and grabbed it, waving wildly at an oncoming tractor-trailer, which had just rounded a bend and was quickly bearing down on us.
The kitten seemed fine, though a bit skinny and agitated after a ride in the car. It kept lunging for Stacey's face, and inflicted a couple of shallow scratches on Stacey's hands. We got it to her mom's place, fed it some milk and cat food, which it quickly ate. It then attached itself to Stacey, fixing her with bright blue eyes and meowing insistently for attention. Stacey named it Franc(e/i)s. Naming probably wasn't the best idea.
When we checked on it Sunday morning, it barely moved, and cried when we picked it up. Stacey wrapped it in a towel and tried to soothe it, but it just lay there, breathing shallowly and indifferent to food or affection. We left that afternoon, and by the time we got home, it had died. I was much more grateful than usual to see my own cats, the nagging bastards.
The kitten seemed fine, though a bit skinny and agitated after a ride in the car. It kept lunging for Stacey's face, and inflicted a couple of shallow scratches on Stacey's hands. We got it to her mom's place, fed it some milk and cat food, which it quickly ate. It then attached itself to Stacey, fixing her with bright blue eyes and meowing insistently for attention. Stacey named it Franc(e/i)s. Naming probably wasn't the best idea.
When we checked on it Sunday morning, it barely moved, and cried when we picked it up. Stacey wrapped it in a towel and tried to soothe it, but it just lay there, breathing shallowly and indifferent to food or affection. We left that afternoon, and by the time we got home, it had died. I was much more grateful than usual to see my own cats, the nagging bastards.
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by Chris @ 7:06 AM
6/27/2004
Patriotic chicken
Just finished driving back from Stephenville along 281 and 71, and couldn't help noticing that every flag in sight is still flying at half staff. It's as if no one wants to be the first to run Old Glory all the way up the flagpole; perhaps they fear that Reagan will be resurrected on the nth day, and those who got on with their lives shall be duly punished. I propose that we call this phenomenon "patriotic chicken," after the suicidal car game where two drivers run full tilt at each other until someone turns aside with much squealing of tires and loss of manliness. I further suggest that the first person in any particular town to raise her flag to full height should get immediately deported, or alternatively, should get a free pass to Farenheit 9-11, depending on the political climate of the town.
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by Chris @ 1:29 PM