What do you know. The unprecedented, mind-bogglingly big, handout to the corrupt financial sector in the United States has failed to pass through the House of Representatives. It failed by a margin of about 20 votes. This has caused a major drop on American stock markets, but remarkably an even larger drop in Canada. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average of the New York Stock Exchange fell 6.98%, the S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 7.9%.
As we see stocks in Canada being more adversely affected by this crisis than American stocks, and the trading partner on whom the Canadian economy is dependant circling the drain, we have the out of touch ramblings of our Prime Minister for cold comfort. Two weeks ago, Stephen Harper said “My own belief is that if we were going to have some kind of big crash or recession, we probably would have had it by now.” Yeah, right Steve. Tell that to all of the people who have seen their retirement savings wiped out over the last three weeks as the TSX has been tanking.
Steve would very much like for us not to connect the currently unfolding crisis in the States with the kind of massive, neo-liberal, deregulation that he wants to foist on us up here. Deregulation is responsible for this crisis, because when greed (i.e. capitalism) is allowed to run rampant and unchecked, it results in shady dealings and outrageous short-term planning. It leads to the kind of exploitation that sees the CEO of Lehman Brothers take home a pay package of US$37 million this year, the same year he steered that bank into the ground. Capitalism, but especially deregulated capitalism, is what allows the kind of insane, idiotic lending that led to this whole crisis in the first place. Neo-liberal deregulation of the economy is what led to Washington Mutual having on a tiny percentage of its debts in available cash, and being by far and away the biggest bank failure in the history of the world. Out of control capitalism is what led to the Great Depression, and it is what will lead to the depression that is coming. And the level of integration in the modern economy could lead to this depression spreading world-wide and making the Great Depression look like nothing.
Now is the time for the people to reassert democratic control over the economy. Now is the time to take control of the financial system away from greedy, exploitative and uncaring capitalists in their bank towers, and restore it to the people who actually make the economy go, the working class. Building institutions to allow for horizontal, popular, control over the economy will make sure that wealth is shared, and that no small cabal of piggish capitalists can drive the economy into the ground for their own personal gain.
It is exactly this connection that Steve and his pack of lying, bigoted and reactionary Conservatives would like for us all not to notice. Steve doesn't want us to realize that he is leading us down the garden path to financial ruin. He can spout all of the "strong on the economy" bullshit that he wants, but his policies essentially represent a massive wealth transfer from the labouring class to the capitalist class. The class that has stolen untold billions that they did not toil to earn. He wants to bleed Canadians dry to fatten the capitalist class. Canadians have to show him that we know what he is up to, and that he doesn't fool us.
But don't take this information and go vote Liberal. The Liberals have endorsed Harper's fiscal policies. They are simply a nice, smiley face to go with the same hyper-capitalist fiscal policies, and in fact they want to deepen the corporate tax giveaways and enrich corporate welfare while at the same time stripping resources from the poorest of the poor through a regressive carbon tax.
The NDP, while not perfect, is a party that can be counted on to stop this outrageous rush to the bottom of regulation, to put a stop to the insane transfers of wealth to the already obscenely wealthy, and to put money back into the social safety net. That's why I'm voting NDP. I hope you'll consider it too.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 112
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
The Disappearance of Protest Songs, and the Left's Loss of Its Roots
I have been thinking lately about how the left has become largely disconnected from it's ideological roots. The left arose in the context of union activism, of workers pushing for a fair distribution of the wealth of society, based on the work one does, rather than on the family into which one was born. This was represented by the great struggles of the 19th and 20th century for workers rights, such as the right to strike, the right to withhold labour, the right to keep scabs out of the workplace and job security.
The modern left seems to have largely abandoned this fight. Sure, leading lights in the NDP will occasionally show up at a major workers rights protest, such as the shut-down of GM Canada's headquarters by the CAW. This loss of interest in the plight of the working class has been parallelled by the loss of traditional protest songs, expressing both outrage and hope. Songs like "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize", "We Shall Overcome" (a socialist song before it was a civil rights anthem), "Solidarity Forever" and "Union Maid". These songs relate powerfully to the efforts of capital to stomp out any vestige of a movement for workers' rights.
Capital, and its cronies in government, at first sought to suppress the working class by sending in soldiers and police to kill strikers, like any number of coal miners' strikes in Cape Breton or West Virginia, or manufacturing workers strikes in Montreal, Toronto, New York, Chicago or Pittsburgh. That didn't work. The workers were willing to risk the rifles and bayonets of the soldiers to defend their rights. Then, there was the phase of McCarthyism, and the attempt to smear all labour rights activists as Bolsheviks and anti-democrats. And sadly, this largely worked. North Americans became convinced that unions were synonymous with big-C Communism, and in the face of the hysteria worked up by capital about the Cold War, turned away from fighting for their rights. Unions never stood for any such thing, rather standing for democratic socialism and for horizontal, democratic, control of the economy to produce just outcomes for all.
The loss of the old protest songs is a sad reflection of the modern tendency in labour relations, and in the wider battle against global capital. This tendency toward giving up, and back-peddling on, the rights of workers continues up to this day. Under the leadership of quislings like Buzz Hargrove (who sold his soul to the Liberal Party, icons of capitalism, for a prospective seat in the Canadian Senate), unions have frittered away the rights of workers. For example, the CAW signed a collective agreement with Magna stipulating that the workers did not have a right to strike. That is heinous. If the workers have no right to strike, no right to withhold labour, there is no way to get concessions from management for better pay, benefits and job security.
Perhaps if we heard the old protest songs again, some of the moribund sections of the union movement might finally wake up. After all, as "Solidarity Forever" proclaims:
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 119
The modern left seems to have largely abandoned this fight. Sure, leading lights in the NDP will occasionally show up at a major workers rights protest, such as the shut-down of GM Canada's headquarters by the CAW. This loss of interest in the plight of the working class has been parallelled by the loss of traditional protest songs, expressing both outrage and hope. Songs like "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize", "We Shall Overcome" (a socialist song before it was a civil rights anthem), "Solidarity Forever" and "Union Maid". These songs relate powerfully to the efforts of capital to stomp out any vestige of a movement for workers' rights.
Capital, and its cronies in government, at first sought to suppress the working class by sending in soldiers and police to kill strikers, like any number of coal miners' strikes in Cape Breton or West Virginia, or manufacturing workers strikes in Montreal, Toronto, New York, Chicago or Pittsburgh. That didn't work. The workers were willing to risk the rifles and bayonets of the soldiers to defend their rights. Then, there was the phase of McCarthyism, and the attempt to smear all labour rights activists as Bolsheviks and anti-democrats. And sadly, this largely worked. North Americans became convinced that unions were synonymous with big-C Communism, and in the face of the hysteria worked up by capital about the Cold War, turned away from fighting for their rights. Unions never stood for any such thing, rather standing for democratic socialism and for horizontal, democratic, control of the economy to produce just outcomes for all.
The loss of the old protest songs is a sad reflection of the modern tendency in labour relations, and in the wider battle against global capital. This tendency toward giving up, and back-peddling on, the rights of workers continues up to this day. Under the leadership of quislings like Buzz Hargrove (who sold his soul to the Liberal Party, icons of capitalism, for a prospective seat in the Canadian Senate), unions have frittered away the rights of workers. For example, the CAW signed a collective agreement with Magna stipulating that the workers did not have a right to strike. That is heinous. If the workers have no right to strike, no right to withhold labour, there is no way to get concessions from management for better pay, benefits and job security.
Perhaps if we heard the old protest songs again, some of the moribund sections of the union movement might finally wake up. After all, as "Solidarity Forever" proclaims:
When the Union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run,Capitalists would have the people believe that pushing for labour rights will simply see more jobs flee to China. That's bullshit. Jobs are fleeing to China anyway, and if the workers aren't organized, there's nothing they can do about it. But if they do organize, workers can fight back. With the flight of good jobs to China, and the proliferation of crappy, un-unionized, McJobs, workers are returning to the situation of the working class in the late 1900s. As Marx wrote at the end of the Communist Manifesto, "the proletarians of the world have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of the world, unite!"
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun.
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one?
But the Union makes us strong.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 119
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Fed Up With Election Coverage
Holy sweet zombie jeebus am I sick of polls being the focus of election coverage. I know, I know, Kim Campbell was right when she famously declared that an election is no time to discuss policy, but seriously, can our leading news organizations do nothing but cover polls? If they were all showing the same thing, that might be meaningful, but they all show different things, and not even the same trends. And yet every single one gets reported as if it were an earth shattering event. Polls are not supposed to be the story in an election.
News organizations have gotten unbelievably sloppy and lazy. They save a tonne of money by having one hack sitting in an office writing horserace stories about polls, when what they should be doing is sending out reporters to cover and critique the policy of the various parties. There is no critical commentary in the media, simply a mindless and endless nattering about polls and how the change in one poll, within the margin of error, means that the world has come to an end for one party or another. If the CPC is up two points, then they are 'approaching majority territory'. If the Liberals are down two points, then they are 'spiralling into oblivion'. If the NDP is up two they are 'closing in on the official opposition' and if they are down two the next day they are 'falling into oblivion'. If the GPC is up two, they are 'about to make a breakthrough' and if they are down two they are 'failing to connect with voters.' This is all complete horseshit.
Our media needs to get it together, and cover the election, not the damn polls.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 120
News organizations have gotten unbelievably sloppy and lazy. They save a tonne of money by having one hack sitting in an office writing horserace stories about polls, when what they should be doing is sending out reporters to cover and critique the policy of the various parties. There is no critical commentary in the media, simply a mindless and endless nattering about polls and how the change in one poll, within the margin of error, means that the world has come to an end for one party or another. If the CPC is up two points, then they are 'approaching majority territory'. If the Liberals are down two points, then they are 'spiralling into oblivion'. If the NDP is up two they are 'closing in on the official opposition' and if they are down two the next day they are 'falling into oblivion'. If the GPC is up two, they are 'about to make a breakthrough' and if they are down two they are 'failing to connect with voters.' This is all complete horseshit.
Our media needs to get it together, and cover the election, not the damn polls.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 120
Saturday, September 20, 2008
US Debt to Increase by almost 10% to Bail Out Bankrupt Capitalists
Over the last couple days, as the drama on North American financial markets has unfolded, the US government decided that it needed to do something. And now that something has emerged as a US$700 billion plan to buy bad debt from banks and investment houses.
Brilliant. This plan will take the US debt from US$9.668 trillion (I can't even properly conceptualize that much money) to about US$10.3 billion. This plan will increase the US national debt by 150% the amount of the entire Canadian national debt (currently about C$500 billion or about US$477 billion). And for all this debt, Americans don't even have a national healthcare system. Lets, just for the shock value, look at these values expressed as numbers.
US National Debt: US$10 368 000 000 000
CAN National Debt: US$500 000 000 000
That's obscene. What is even more obscene is that this bail out won't do a single thing to help the ordinary people of the United States. The working class won't see a penny of this money. Bush is going to transfer $350 billion per year to the capitalist class. These are the same people who scream about welfare recipients getting a grand or two a month, so that they can buy food and pay rent (and often can't afford even that). And yet some on the right are screaming about this being "socialism." Trust me when I say, as a socialist, that this is not socialism. This is kleptocracy. The capitalists made ridiculously bad business decisions, endangered the fundamentals of the American economy, got filthy rich in the process, and now their mistakes are being covered by the taxes paid by working class Americans. It's obscene.
Americans are going to be stuck paying for this bailout for decades to come, if not centuries. The stupid, greedy piggish capitalists have gotten bailed out of their stupidity, and once again it comes on the backs of the people most oppressed by the capitalist system. But so long as the American media gushes about this bailout, most people won't ever know the difference. And of course, the supposed "left wing alternative" in the US, the Democratic Party, is cheer-leading this bullshit and will uncritically pass it through Congress.
This is bullshit. Americans need to be up in arms about this. Their future is being mortgaged (pun not intended, but now I like it) to bail out irresponsible pig-dog capitalists. But there is no outrage. It is beyond frustrating.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 121
Brilliant. This plan will take the US debt from US$9.668 trillion (I can't even properly conceptualize that much money) to about US$10.3 billion. This plan will increase the US national debt by 150% the amount of the entire Canadian national debt (currently about C$500 billion or about US$477 billion). And for all this debt, Americans don't even have a national healthcare system. Lets, just for the shock value, look at these values expressed as numbers.
US National Debt: US$10 368 000 000 000
CAN National Debt: US$500 000 000 000
That's obscene. What is even more obscene is that this bail out won't do a single thing to help the ordinary people of the United States. The working class won't see a penny of this money. Bush is going to transfer $350 billion per year to the capitalist class. These are the same people who scream about welfare recipients getting a grand or two a month, so that they can buy food and pay rent (and often can't afford even that). And yet some on the right are screaming about this being "socialism." Trust me when I say, as a socialist, that this is not socialism. This is kleptocracy. The capitalists made ridiculously bad business decisions, endangered the fundamentals of the American economy, got filthy rich in the process, and now their mistakes are being covered by the taxes paid by working class Americans. It's obscene.
Americans are going to be stuck paying for this bailout for decades to come, if not centuries. The stupid, greedy piggish capitalists have gotten bailed out of their stupidity, and once again it comes on the backs of the people most oppressed by the capitalist system. But so long as the American media gushes about this bailout, most people won't ever know the difference. And of course, the supposed "left wing alternative" in the US, the Democratic Party, is cheer-leading this bullshit and will uncritically pass it through Congress.
This is bullshit. Americans need to be up in arms about this. Their future is being mortgaged (pun not intended, but now I like it) to bail out irresponsible pig-dog capitalists. But there is no outrage. It is beyond frustrating.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 121
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
I'm Back
I've let this lapse for far too long, but now I will try to get myself back on track. That may be tough, since I have a busy couple of days coming up, and there's been a lot going on, but I'm going to try.
The Canadian federal election is clearly going to be the top story. The media has itself worked up into a lather about how the Conservatives are knocking on the door of majority government, the Liberals are in meltdown, the NDP is pushing for official opposition and the Greens are the best thing since sliced bread and a going to make a serious breakthrough. Unsurprisingly, given the history of media lather, none of that is true.
To start off with, lets look at the polling numbers. Routinely, for the last couple federal elections, Nanos polling (formerly known as SES) has been the most accurate polling company, coming very close to the final result. So I am going to use their numbers as the guide for my commentary on polls through the election. Unless, of course, I see a blatantly ridiculous poll like the one from Segma Research last week that showed the CPC at 43%. That was a howler.
Nanos currently has the following numbers:
CPC: 38%
LPC: 31%
NDP: 17%
BQ: 7%
GPC: 7%
Margin of error: +/- 3.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Looking at those numbers, it means that all of the change since the last election (CPC +2%, LPC +1%, NDP -1%, BQ -3%, GPC +2%, after rounding) is within the margin of error. We could very well come back with the exact same result as the last election. All of the people running around screaming about any number of disasters or miracles need to have their heads checked. Much as I would like to believe the NDP is about to have it's breakthrough to be the official opposition, it isn't looking like it is going to happen this time. The same way, the CPC will not form a majority government. 38% is only in the most positive of eventualities enough for a bare majority. Chretien squeaked one out with 38% in 1997, but there was no opposition party polling anywhere near 30% at the time and Liberal support wasn't concentrated in a relatively small province the same way CPC support is concentrated in Alberta. Stephen Harper can only win every seat in Alberta once. The Greens will also not elect a single MP. Potato Head Pete will beat eMay in Central Nova, and Blair Wilson will suffer an embarassing beat-down in West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast - Sea-to-Sky Country.
If the Conservatives come back with an increased minority (I repeat, it won't be a majority), it will likely be because of seat gains in rural Quebec, and possibly in BC. They will lose seats in Atlantic Canada, possibly being wiped out in NL and down to one seat in NS (Pete, beating eMay). The CPC may also lose Tobique-Mactaquac, putting them down five seats. It think, however, that the most likely outcome is probably the CPC coming out of this election up by 2-5 seats, with the NDP gaining 3-6, and the losses coming from the LPC, BQ and Greens (their one pathetic floor crossing seat).
The Cons have not been running the same kind of gaffe-free campaign they did last time, that much is already clear. From the puffin fiasco to the ill-advised swipe at the father of a dead soldier, however, the gaffes have come from the back room, not candidates. That all changed today. Today the Globe and Mail is reporting that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was making fun of the deaths from Listeriosis poisoning (referring to "death by 1000 cold cuts") and, when he heard that one of the fatalities was from Prince Edward Island, he said that he hoped it was Wayne Easter, the Liberal Agriculture critic. Oops.
That kind of gaffe is exactly what can sink the not-so-good ship Conservative. Last time around, a significant contribution to the fall of the Liberals was Scott Reid's "beer and popcorn" quip. This comment has the capacity to do the same thing. Conservatives are shown to be making light of the deaths of Canadians on their watch, from a product that is supposed to be regulated by the government they were running. This shows an appalling coldness of heart, as well as a sadistic streak, wishing death on Mr. Easter and hideous sorrow on his family.
This comment also shows that the CPC has not changed since it was the reform party. It continues to be crass, classless and cruel. Mean spirited cuts to the arts, ideologically motivated cuts to funding for Status of Women Canada (not to mention removing the word "equality" from their mandate), introducing copyright legislation more draconian that the US's Digital Millennium Copyright Act, electoral fraud through the in-and-out scheme, attempting to roll back the sexual morality clock to the 1950s by raising the age of consent (and shame on the other parties for going along with it) and by trying to repeal the Civil Marriage Act that allowed same-sex marriage. And let's not even get into their colossal failure on the climate chaos file.
Now, the Liberals are not a lot better, since they stood aside and let these paleo-con measures pass unimpeded, ranting and raving about how they opposed the bill, but generating all light and no heat, since when the time came only a rump of Liberals showed up to cast votes against the bills. The Liberals are also trying to out tax cut the Conservatives, pledging more and deeper tax cuts for corporations than even the Conservatives. That is NUTS. Canada already has a lower corporate tax rate that the United States, and corporate income tax rates are substantially lower than personal income tax rates. Never mind the Green Shift that works nicely for the upper crust puppet masters of the Liberal party, while laying the burden of the post-carbon transition on the backs of the poorest in society. But enough about the Liberals for now, they are mostly doing enought to embarass themselves that I don't need to help them along.
The NDP is not perfect. It is too pragmatic in its pursuit of power, and it has drifted too far from its principles and its base. But I do like a lot of the policy that the party has proposed this time around. It is good, on point, and addresses many important issues, including childcare, reform of the banking sector and climate chaos. I was ashamed to be a member of the party when all but Bill Siksay voted in favour of the omnibus crime bill that not only overrode just about every social worker and sociologist in the country on the age of consent, but also neglected yet another opportunity to end the bigoted differential age of consent for anal and vaginal intercourse. But I am still a supporter of this party. I can't say I will be forever, but for now I am. My vote will be going to Meagan Leslie, the NDP candidate here in Halifax, and I think she makes a good candidate.
The Greens are an interesting case. I think the most interesting role they have left to play in this campaign will be whether or not eMay endorses Dion and the Liberals at the end. She may well, since he has endorsed a number of Liberals, even those running against Greens. I will go on the record saying that eMay should not have been included in the debates. Her party has only got one floor crossing seat in Parliament. Every previous party has had to have at least one MP elected under their banner (and don't mention Gilles Duceppe, everyone knew he was running for the BQ but they just weren't a formal party at the time he was elected) to get into the debate. Yet eMay managed to shame the country into giving her a voice despite her deal with Dion which effectively makes her a second Liberal in the debate. We should all watch closely to see if they are signalling each other.
Any how, that is enough for now. As I said, I will try to keep this blog updated, but we shall see.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 124
The Canadian federal election is clearly going to be the top story. The media has itself worked up into a lather about how the Conservatives are knocking on the door of majority government, the Liberals are in meltdown, the NDP is pushing for official opposition and the Greens are the best thing since sliced bread and a going to make a serious breakthrough. Unsurprisingly, given the history of media lather, none of that is true.
To start off with, lets look at the polling numbers. Routinely, for the last couple federal elections, Nanos polling (formerly known as SES) has been the most accurate polling company, coming very close to the final result. So I am going to use their numbers as the guide for my commentary on polls through the election. Unless, of course, I see a blatantly ridiculous poll like the one from Segma Research last week that showed the CPC at 43%. That was a howler.
Nanos currently has the following numbers:
CPC: 38%
LPC: 31%
NDP: 17%
BQ: 7%
GPC: 7%
Margin of error: +/- 3.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Looking at those numbers, it means that all of the change since the last election (CPC +2%, LPC +1%, NDP -1%, BQ -3%, GPC +2%, after rounding) is within the margin of error. We could very well come back with the exact same result as the last election. All of the people running around screaming about any number of disasters or miracles need to have their heads checked. Much as I would like to believe the NDP is about to have it's breakthrough to be the official opposition, it isn't looking like it is going to happen this time. The same way, the CPC will not form a majority government. 38% is only in the most positive of eventualities enough for a bare majority. Chretien squeaked one out with 38% in 1997, but there was no opposition party polling anywhere near 30% at the time and Liberal support wasn't concentrated in a relatively small province the same way CPC support is concentrated in Alberta. Stephen Harper can only win every seat in Alberta once. The Greens will also not elect a single MP. Potato Head Pete will beat eMay in Central Nova, and Blair Wilson will suffer an embarassing beat-down in West Vancouver - Sunshine Coast - Sea-to-Sky Country.
If the Conservatives come back with an increased minority (I repeat, it won't be a majority), it will likely be because of seat gains in rural Quebec, and possibly in BC. They will lose seats in Atlantic Canada, possibly being wiped out in NL and down to one seat in NS (Pete, beating eMay). The CPC may also lose Tobique-Mactaquac, putting them down five seats. It think, however, that the most likely outcome is probably the CPC coming out of this election up by 2-5 seats, with the NDP gaining 3-6, and the losses coming from the LPC, BQ and Greens (their one pathetic floor crossing seat).
The Cons have not been running the same kind of gaffe-free campaign they did last time, that much is already clear. From the puffin fiasco to the ill-advised swipe at the father of a dead soldier, however, the gaffes have come from the back room, not candidates. That all changed today. Today the Globe and Mail is reporting that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was making fun of the deaths from Listeriosis poisoning (referring to "death by 1000 cold cuts") and, when he heard that one of the fatalities was from Prince Edward Island, he said that he hoped it was Wayne Easter, the Liberal Agriculture critic. Oops.
That kind of gaffe is exactly what can sink the not-so-good ship Conservative. Last time around, a significant contribution to the fall of the Liberals was Scott Reid's "beer and popcorn" quip. This comment has the capacity to do the same thing. Conservatives are shown to be making light of the deaths of Canadians on their watch, from a product that is supposed to be regulated by the government they were running. This shows an appalling coldness of heart, as well as a sadistic streak, wishing death on Mr. Easter and hideous sorrow on his family.
This comment also shows that the CPC has not changed since it was the reform party. It continues to be crass, classless and cruel. Mean spirited cuts to the arts, ideologically motivated cuts to funding for Status of Women Canada (not to mention removing the word "equality" from their mandate), introducing copyright legislation more draconian that the US's Digital Millennium Copyright Act, electoral fraud through the in-and-out scheme, attempting to roll back the sexual morality clock to the 1950s by raising the age of consent (and shame on the other parties for going along with it) and by trying to repeal the Civil Marriage Act that allowed same-sex marriage. And let's not even get into their colossal failure on the climate chaos file.
Now, the Liberals are not a lot better, since they stood aside and let these paleo-con measures pass unimpeded, ranting and raving about how they opposed the bill, but generating all light and no heat, since when the time came only a rump of Liberals showed up to cast votes against the bills. The Liberals are also trying to out tax cut the Conservatives, pledging more and deeper tax cuts for corporations than even the Conservatives. That is NUTS. Canada already has a lower corporate tax rate that the United States, and corporate income tax rates are substantially lower than personal income tax rates. Never mind the Green Shift that works nicely for the upper crust puppet masters of the Liberal party, while laying the burden of the post-carbon transition on the backs of the poorest in society. But enough about the Liberals for now, they are mostly doing enought to embarass themselves that I don't need to help them along.
The NDP is not perfect. It is too pragmatic in its pursuit of power, and it has drifted too far from its principles and its base. But I do like a lot of the policy that the party has proposed this time around. It is good, on point, and addresses many important issues, including childcare, reform of the banking sector and climate chaos. I was ashamed to be a member of the party when all but Bill Siksay voted in favour of the omnibus crime bill that not only overrode just about every social worker and sociologist in the country on the age of consent, but also neglected yet another opportunity to end the bigoted differential age of consent for anal and vaginal intercourse. But I am still a supporter of this party. I can't say I will be forever, but for now I am. My vote will be going to Meagan Leslie, the NDP candidate here in Halifax, and I think she makes a good candidate.
The Greens are an interesting case. I think the most interesting role they have left to play in this campaign will be whether or not eMay endorses Dion and the Liberals at the end. She may well, since he has endorsed a number of Liberals, even those running against Greens. I will go on the record saying that eMay should not have been included in the debates. Her party has only got one floor crossing seat in Parliament. Every previous party has had to have at least one MP elected under their banner (and don't mention Gilles Duceppe, everyone knew he was running for the BQ but they just weren't a formal party at the time he was elected) to get into the debate. Yet eMay managed to shame the country into giving her a voice despite her deal with Dion which effectively makes her a second Liberal in the debate. We should all watch closely to see if they are signalling each other.
Any how, that is enough for now. As I said, I will try to keep this blog updated, but we shall see.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 124
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