Phendrana Drifts

This isn't to suggest that I've been sitting here stewing about the beer and popcorn comment since I last posted, because I haven't, but I found the following passage in a book I am reading interesting:

There were simple gestures, too. During their years as opposition MPPs, Peterson and Nixon (David Peterson, the former Liberal premier of Ontario along with his treasurer, Robert Nixon) had seen far too many poor families suffer through miserable winters, unable to afford adequate winter clothing for their children. The premier remembered "Cathy" and what he'd been able to do for her.

"When you proceed up the ladder into cabinet and you get to be first minister, you say, well if I could do that for Cathy, why can't I do that for two hundred thousand people?" Peterson says.

So he did. Poor families received a bonus cheque so they could buy winter coats for their kids.

"Some people will say, 'I'm not going to give it to them, they'll drink it up in beer,'" Peterson acknowledges. "I'm not saying some people didn't go out and buy beer. Maybe they did. But I think probably a bunch of kids got coats they wouldn't have got."

The book is The Dark Side: The Personal Life of A Political Life by journalist Steve Paikin. Good book.

Beer and popcorn. Oops.

It will be hard to spin out of this one.

To celebrate, Allie and I went to Walk The Line, and it turned out to be the perfect movie for the night. :-)

Thanks for taking me Allie.

Scott Feschuk, Paul Martin's chief speechwriter, has an awesome campaign blog! The Conservatives have some hack doing theirs too, but it isn't attributed and generally isn't quite as good. Now, far be it for me to suggest one vote based on the quality of a blog, but if Scott's posts get much better, even I may be tempted to change my vote.

My favourite post:

It is impossible to fly over this massive country of ours, look down upon its endlessly vast, thickly treed tracts of land and say with any certainty that there is no such thing as Bigfoot. I mean, seriously: he could be hiding.

Second favorite post:

Dear Blog Boy: I was just wondering how many times you get the Prime Minister to say "fundamentally" in a speech? It sure seems a bit excessive! - J.H.

Thank you for your very, very important question. Make no mistake: fundamentally, the Prime Minister is a man who, essentially, speaks in a very, very distinctive way. Let me be clear: we have pointed this out to him. And fundamentally, what he has said in reply is, essentially, that we should be very, very quiet and go away.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

I came home, and not having had lunch, was naturally a little peckish. Allie beat me home today, so I wasn't sure if the chicken on the counter was for now or later, so I left it alone. Then Raven, who was heading out the door to Girl Guides, asked if she could have some chicken. Allie was on the phone, so I made the executive decision: "Sure. But not a leg." I got up to look at the now consumable chicken, and noted that it was in fact, not fresh but leftovers. "Oh, Raven, you can have a leg. No worries." I also helped myself to a bunch of chicken. Allie finished her call and then got a worried look on her face. "Who had the chicken?" Sheepishly I said I did. We haven't had chicken since Thursday. A rush of worry hits me. Raven and I ate four day old chicken that was on its way to the garbage. I'm worried.

In response to a caller who suggested hockey great Mario Lemieux be sent to the minors to "get into shape," Pittsburgh ESPN radio hockey guru Mark Madden replied with a great zinger:

"Sure jerk, you're going to send the owner of the team to Wilkes-Barre. Thanks for the call, jackass!"

Zing!

I watched the Saturday's Flames-Penguins game with Allie, and other than the awesome game, great win, and good times the two things I did notice was that a.) Sidney Crosby really will be that good. and b.) Mario Lemieux is still very much a threat. He may be older, obviously, but I could never skate like he does now, let alone when I'm 40. In my mind, the people of Pittsburgh should still be thanking their lucky stars a guy as good as Mario is willing to hitch everything to their town and hockey club. Consider, Mario has spent his entire career with the Pens, owns their franchise, and is instrumental in not only their storied Stanley Cup teams, but their current push towards becoming a contender on the ice as well as remaining solvent and a part of the community off the ice. And by the accounts of today's Globe and Mail article I'm grabbing this story from, Pittsburgh is. Except that one jackass.

Three days in, and we already get to catalog the major errors of the campaign so far.

First, as Quynn so eloquently already pointed out, and Elaine had the misfortune of hearing me complain about, it is, despite the best efforts of the Liberals, not time for us to move on past the Sponsorship scandal. If John A. had to face electoral music over scandal, sure as heck these crooks should at least have to defend themselves at a ballot box. It is not time to get past this. It is the time to question our political leadership over how they handle our money.

Second, you know bringing up same sex marriage the way he did was not a wise move on Harper's part. On the first day. I thought the Conservative message for the first 48 hours was brilliant, minus the stupid answer the do you love Canada question. Change. A great word for this campaign. And the Conservatives were spinning that word out there so well. Not James Carville good, but I for one was impressed at the end of the first day how good the Conservatives were at getting that message out there. And then Harper decides to talk about same sex marriage as the first post-change message out there. Oops. It genuinely seems that the change he most want to implement is more discrimination against the sodomites. Which is not a good message to gain seats in BC and Ontario. Or Quebec, which the Conservatives may have written off, but they shouldn't. How I miss Brian Mulroney.

Speaking of him, mistake 2.5 - the GST. Perhaps in the world of campaign messaging this plays well, but in my opinion, a consumption tax is a good thing for Canada. Harper can say what he likes, but I will grudging agree with Martin, I'd rather see income tax cuts, particularly those focused on the lower and middle income households than cutting a consumption tax. I heard a Conservative strategist discussing the GST cut on Newsworld today and her arguments were pathetic - Canadians will see this tax cut everytime they shop, unlike a income tax cut that is hidden. I hate to break to you, I notice every dime I pay in income tax. I'm not stupid, and the suggestion that I would want a 1% GST tax cut than an income tax cut because it is more visible is pathetic. Of course, laying my cards on the table, I like the GST. Not that I want a provincial sales tax, because I don't. But the GST is a price I'm willing to pay.

Mistake three: what is Gilles Duceppe wearing?

Fourth, to provide balance I was going think of where Jack Layton had screwed up this week. Then I thought, I'm not sure he has. I mean to be sure it isn't perfect, the $4 billion "restoration" of transfer funds for post-secondary has faults, so does, well being Jack Layton. But then I thought of it - he hasn't made the news yet. The biggest stories of the campaign thus far have not been driven by the NDP at all. In fact, they have been mostly Conservative stories: same-sex marriage, independent prosecutor and today's GST promise. Interesting.

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