Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso conceded defeat in elections today as media exit polls indicated the opposition had won by a landslide, sending the conservatives out of power after 54 years of nearly unbroken rule amid widespread economic anxiety and desire for change…
The left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan was set to win 300 or more of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament, ousting the Liberal Democrats, who have governed Japan for all but 11 months since 1955, according to exit polls by all major Japanese TV networks.
The loss by the Liberal Democrats – traditionally a pro-business, conservative party – would open the way for the Democratic Party, headed by Yukio Hatoyama, to replace Aso and establish a new Cabinet, possibly within the next few weeks.
Word has it that Conservative strategist Doug Finley and CPOC President Don Plett will be the latest to flee the listing Harper ship. It seems to me they, particularly in the case of Finley, don’t think Harper will be around for a third round of senate appointments so they’re gettin while the gettin’s good.
Over the last few days rumours have been circulating, fed by breathless US financial blogs, that Beemo is going down. The point of ignition is supposed to be Tuesday, when quarterly results are announced. According to the current merchants of fear, BMO will announce it’s missing a fat dividend payment of $1.5 billion. That will cause the stock to drop like a stone, and start a cascade of cash exiting the bank…
As you might imagine, a collapse of one of the Big Five – even a run on its stock, let alone its assets – would be ruinous for Bay Street, for the federal government, for shareholders, bondholders and the value of the dollar. In short, we’d all be reamed.
Garth Turner, who has been quite the prophet of doom lately, doesn’t think the situation is nearly as bad as the rumours are painting it. In any event, at least we won’t have to wait long to find out.
Denial Was A River In Africa
The latest Climate Denial Crock of the Week from Peter Sinclair.
Have You Beaten Your Child Today
In a recent national referendum New Zealanders voted in favour of allowing violence against children to resume after it was banned two years ago. This is a perfect example of why direct democracy advocates can kiss my ass. Luckily for New Zealand’s children the referendum was non binding and Prime Minister Key has said he won’t change the law.
Global Warming
The alarm bells have been ringing for quite some time.
For FIFTY YEARS scientists have known about global warming. This exerpt is from the well known educational documentary “Unchained Goddess” produced by Frank Capra for Bell Labs for their television program “The Bell Telephone Hour.” It was so well made, that it went on to live a continued life in middle school science classrooms across the nation for decades.
At a “grassroots” rally organized by the American Petroleum Institute in Houston on Tuesday, activists bearing American flags were turned away. Oil company employees were bused in to the “Energy Citizens” gathering to hear billionaire Drayton McLane Jr. attack President Barack Obama’s clean energy agenda as an economy-destroying energy tax. However, grassroots tea-party activists told Public Citizen Texas that they and their American flags were refused entry to the company picnic:
Comments Off :
Robert McClelland :
Aug 20, '09 :
-Blahg Bits
Far too many people who respond to polls on public issues simply don’t have a clue.
Now, a new Public Policy Polling poll finds that millions of Americans do not realize that the federal government runs Medicare:
One poll question indicative of how difficult it is to gain public understanding on a complicated issue asked if respondents thought the government should ‘stay out of Medicare,’ something inherently impossible. 39% said yes.
When 4 in 10 people think government should stay out of government programs what is the point of even bothering to ask for their opinions.
“It is ridiculous for them to try to make that a law, because I don’t think a man can rape his own wife. After two people get married, the Bible says that they become one - one flesh. How is it possible to rape what is yours?” asked Mr. Sutherland.
You know, I just don’t have any tolerance left for these wackos. People like Mr. Sutherland should simply be held down while their wives repeatedly rape them with a giant dildo. I’ll be fair to them though. If they then give two thumbs up to marital rape I’ll once again tolerate their wacked out opinions.
Welcome To Canada, Swarthy Looking Person
Now kiss the asphalt or “I will kill you now.”
Corporate Activism
Corporations are increasingly thumbing their noses at Canada’s Parliament and laws. Will the “tough on crime” Conservatives take issue with it? Yeah, I don’t think so either.
Oh So Silly
The fixation by liberals on name changes, blue sweaters and other bits of fluff are a good indication why the gap between the dippers and grits has closed to just 8 percentage points.
By the way, is it just me or does that painting of Layton remind anyone else of Paul Newman’s character, Fast Eddie Felson, in the Color of Money?
Oops, I think I just created another bit of fluff for the liberals.
Does anyone else think that if we were just now learning to effectively harness the power of water and turn it into electricity that anti-environment conservatives would be against doing so. I do. I think they’d argue hydroelectric power stations were too costly, too unreliable and too much of a blight on the landscape. I think they’d claim that hydroelectric power stations were killing thousands of fish. I think they’d invent new maladies to convince people that hydroelectric power stations were harming their health. I think the excuses not to build hydroelectric power stations would flow from the anti-environment conservatives faster than the water through those stations.
We’ll never know if this is true, but I think we all know that it would be.
Conservative Senator, Pamela Wallin, says you’re harming our relationship with the United States.
She said attacks on the former president, George W. Bush, were an example of emotional, ill-advised public discourse.
Now obviously she didn’t mention Obama, but if attacks on the former president are harmful then attacks on the current one are too. So knock off the anti-Americanism.
Popular support in the 2000 federal election:
Liberals: 40.85%
New Democrats: 8.51%
The grit/dipper spread: 32.34%
Popular support in the 2008 federal election:
Liberals: 26.26% (a decline of 14.59%)
New Democrats: 18.18% (an increase of 9.67%)
The grit/dipper spread: 8.08% (a decline of 24.26%)
Meanwhile, in another corner of #Hfx09, young dippers laid bare the faulty premise that they’re sad and sour faced marxists by partying like it was 1899.
On a lighter note, I am looking forward to the “Halifax Harbour Hootenany” tonight, as well as the many other social events planned over the course of the weekend.
You scamps! Just be sure to follow proper NDP approved hootenany guidelines.
1) Always wear a CSA approved personal floatation device when hootenanying near water. 2) Never under any circumstances feed a dipper after midnight. 3) When hootenaniers start misquoting Karl Marx immediately check to see if the hootenany punch has been spiked or Dana Larsen is in the crowd.
May I have your attention: the publicly available policy resolutions have been leaked! Savage beatings from Brad Lavigne to ensue.
How To Deal With Right Whingers Digby hits the nail on the head.
The solution to this is obvious. The Democrats should always put something really outrageous into every bill to give the wingnuts something to rend their garments over. In the stimulus they should have set aside a couple million for illegal alien subsidized beachfront housing. In health care they should have put in a tax on guns to cover plastic surgery. When the nutters predictably go bonkers, they can reluctantly “give in,” thus leaving perfectly mainstram, useful items like contraception and counseling for living wills alone.
I don’t know what else to do about this but give them a hissy fit. They’re going to have one no matter what. Might as well plan for it.
Your Advice For The NDP
I’ve read most of the advice everyone is giving the NDP lately and I’ve printed it for future reference…huh, what’s that? Yes that is a paper shredder you hear in the background. Why do you ask? Anyway, where was I. Oh yes, the, I’m sure, well meaning advice for the NDP. I have only one thing to say about all of these marvelous suggestions. Until any of you ignorant dolts at least browse through this information you are simply not worth listening to.
Let Me Be Unequivocally Clear About This
Leftwing activists cost the BC NDP the election. So they need to either shut the fuck up and let the political left try to win some elections or they should fuck right off.
Halifax `09 A website has been set up to cover all the social media action from the NDP convention in Halifax this weekend.
The American Prospect has a good article on the decline of the pro-Israel lobby in America. Most of what’s said in the article could apply to Canada as well.
A minor scuffle between pro-health reform activists and anti-health reform activists at a town hall meeting has sparked a literal call to arms from the right whingers.
Following little change in June, employment declined by 45,000 in July, with losses in both full- and part-time work. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.6%, as fewer people participated in the labour market.
By the way, employment in construction declined an additional 1.6% in July. So much for the belief that Harper’s still not approved home renovation credit is working.
Name Change Distraction
It’s a good thing everyone is distracted by the possibility that the NDP may change its name at the upcoming convention in Halifax. After all, we wouldn’t want anyone to focus on the big policy discussion.
While Steele wrongly criticizes the NDP for not planning to discuss policy, the reality is that the party has in fact put together a policy book (warning: PDF) which will form the basis for the resolutions to be debated at the convention. So rather than merely debating freestanding topics (as the Libs are apparently continuing to do), the NDP will in fact be carrying on a more thorough policy discussion based on fitting specific resolutions into a full set of governing principles.
Its not surprising though that the name change is on the mind of every columnist instead of the policy discussion. After all, if they paid attention to the latter they’d no longer be able to claim ignorance of what the NDP stands for.
They Don’t Need No Stinking Visas
Remember how Jason Kenney was crowing that the newly implemented visa requirements resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of refugee claims being made? Well, the funny thing about that is…
Ingenious refugee claimants fleeing here from the U.S. are using Google Earth software and global positioning devices to sneak into the country now that their claims are being refused at border crossings, immigration workers say…
Paul St. Clair, of Toronto Refugee Affairs Council, said a refugee ban will lead to more people going underground.
“Every one of these measures to close the border only encourages more people to sneak in,” St. Clair said yesterday. “It will only send more people underground.”
Yay! Thanks to Kenney we’ll no longer know who is coming into the country. Problem solved!
Debunking Rightwing Myths About EI The Progressive Economics Forum looks at the issue of whether or not EI causes higher rates of unemployment and concludes:
But the key government charges against UI — that it creates major disincentives to work, that it retards necessary adjustments in the economy, and that it kills jobs — have been enormously exaggerated. And the government has generally failed to recognize the major social and economic benefits of a good UI program.
