Phendrana Drifts

Warning! If you work for the Government of Alberta, even if you are not at work right now, or on vacation, or whatever, you may not click on the following link:

Blueprint for Prosperity (Dr. Lyle Oberg's Platform for PC Leader)

I mean it. More importantly, Dr. Lyle Oberg means it. To read this document, and even worse, to develop an opinion on it, while simultaneously being an employee of the government is misuse of government resources for partisan political purposes, specifically, is a dirty political trick by Jim Dinning's campaign. In Alberta, to reveal such misdeeds is a threat to the source's "job, their future and their families" according to the good Doctor.

Bizarre. Put another way, having a volunteer who happens to work for the Government of Alberta look critically at an opponent's platform is a dirty trick - one that should end your credibility as a candidate, at least according to Dr. Oberg. That's an awfully high bar of conduct to reach. That would mean Dr. Oberg better not have any Government or Legislature employees doing any volunteer work on his campaign, right? Not his legislature assistant, not a teacher and certainly not an executive assistant from a Minister. And what about a worse crime - worse than having a volunteer who is also a Government of Alberta employee, if we can imagine such a misdeed - are they simply to be executed in the street?

I could not get over how preposterous this is.

... it will still be too soon. I hate catch-up work. And I've been doing it all day.

I laughed for half an hour.

Jim Dinning's campaign posted a series of twelve "whoppers" that people may have heard about Dinning throughout the campaign. I think it is a brilliant move, that got a bit of blog press on Tom Olsen's blog but more importantly allows a direct rebuff to some of the critiques heard about Dinning through the campaign. For the record, I only had heard of six of them. But that isn't an exhaustive list of myths, lies and untruths I've heard in this campaign. Some of the ones Dinning's team missed:

Dinning's going to win in a landslide. Of course it is possible, there is six weeks of campaigning left (almost twice as long as a general election) but that isn't remotely what I hear on the ground. I think it is a closely fought race between six people right now, and I think all have a currently legitimate chance at winning. In any case, if I were a betting man, I would certainly place a wager on there being a second ballot.
Dave Hancock is a Liberal. Or possibly a New Democrat. I can't imagine someone with a stronger commitment to the PC party than Dave. He was the party president when Ralph was elected leader. He's been a member since he was a 15 year old. And it isn't just the party membership, he's tighter and more responsible with public dollars than anyone I've ever met. Someone who is willing to ask "If I spend one dollar of public money today, will I save two dollars from being spent tomorrow?" is in my mind the perfect intelligent fiscal conservative.
Oberg, Dinning, Hancock and Morton are going to sell 100,000 memberships a piece. William already put this into perspective: "Several [leadership campaigns] have set membership sales targets of 100,000 memberships. Were that to unfold, membership in the PC Party would be 600,000 - more than all of the people who voted for the PC Party of Alberta in the last provincial election."
The teachers are endorsing Oberg. You would think so based on the picture of Frank Bruseker in the Journal buying a membership from Oberg. It's a joke. Frank Bruseker and the ATA members who are buying memberships are likely looking at candidates like Hancock and Dinning, but as a teacher asked me before she asked her question to Oberg at recent forum - "Instead, should I ask Dr. Oberg who does his hair, and how do they hide the horns so well?"
Alana DeLong is in third. I had to post this, even though she's dropped out. Alana was never in third. Or fourth. Or fifth. Or sixth. Maybe not even seventh. This points to the flaws in polling to look at who is winning. Speaking of which...
Polling is the best way to determine who will eventually win. No it's not. First, not all Albertans will vote in this race, only people who are PC members on Nov. 25 can. Second, not all of the people who will be PC members on Nov. 25 are PC members right now. Finally, look at margin of errors of some of the popular polls - like the recent PGIB one of party members - statistically, we appear to be in a near dead heat between six men. No one can constuct a poll that will reflect the people who will turn out on Nov. 25, so we should stop touting polls that claim to.
Victor Doerksen's going to win. No, I don't think so. No media coverage, no MLA or party support, no natural constituency with Dr. Morton in the race clearing out the social conservatives and being so late to the race as to be laughable... personally I am somewhat amazed he found $15,000 and 500 party members to nominate him. That said, I signed his nomination papers (along with eight others) so maybe I'm the wrong person to say something like that.
Dinning won't be a Premier from Calgary, but a Premier for all Albertans. I like Dinning, and I don't mean this in a disparaging way. I think Dinning, like all of the Premiers that came before him, would govern in largely the best interests of Alberta. But everybody comes from somewhere, and no matter how much he tries to suggest that he isn't a Calgary candidate, that's where his support is, and where he's crafted his political and business name. Every single Calgary MLA save the four Liberals and Hung Pham are endorsing Dinning, and with people like Rod Love, Hal Danchilla and Alan Hallman running your campaign, you have to accept that if a candidate comes from somewhere, then Dinning comes from Calgary.
Morton is a racist. This one might be my favourite, because I actually hear it a lot. Trust me, he isn't a racist. He founded his American university's local chapter of the NAACP. Is he socially conservative? Yes. Racist? No.
Oberg stood up for the party when he challenged the Premier. I think he made an angry slip of the tongue. Was he thinking of the long term health and electability of our party? I don't think so. He was thinking selfishly of his own chances to win the leadership - in my opinion. But wow, has he ever translated a slip of the tongue and what I thought was a dead leadership campaign into a tale full of sound and fury.
Morton can't win on the first ballot. Yes, he can. 50% plus one. If you don't like it, I have a membership you might be interested in looking at, so long as you're free on Nov. 25 and Dec. 2. And for those who would say he won't win on the first ballot, remember Alberta social conservatives replaced Preston Manning with Stockwell Day. And Dr. Morton is twelve times smarter than Stockwell Day.
Ralph Klein is supporting Mark Norris. Apparently Phil Klein is. So are a couple other people who were intimates of the boss recently. But Ralph Klein has made it perfectly clear he has no idea how he would vote, and certainly won't support somebody.

Hmm... for all those using blogspot as your server, I think you're safe. I think it is related either to the link between my host and Blogger, or something to do with our slow internet. In other news, our internet is slow, and the outgoing mail server isn't working at work (we use Shaw for both home and work). I wonder what is up...

I didn't think of anything interesting to discuss while at work. Other than post-secondary accessibility in Alberta is a very complicated topic (I did know that before I got up in the morning) and The Sopranos is darn fine television.

I have certainly been one. And I don't have a particularly good excuse as to why. The Sopranos would explain a lot (we're through season 2, don't know when we'll start season 3) but I guess I've also just been lazy.

I'll try and think of something intelligent to offer while I am at work today.

Slate has a fantastic article on North Korea, but as the title suggests, it isn't good. North Korea Tested an Atom Bomb; Now What? Four potential scenarios�all bad.

The synopsis?

Scenario 1: DPRK sells nuclear weapons to the highest (al-Qaida) bidder.
Scenario 2: Regional arms race with China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
Scenario 3: Iran watches how the events unfold, particularly if North Korea goes unpunished, and act accordingly.
Scenario 4: War.

Yuck. And of course my mind can think of more positive scenarios, but that doesn't make any of these unlikely.

Three hours ago North Korea tested a nuclear bomb. It is hard to think of something more frightening.

A fabulous movie. Enjoyable and fun. Not to mention positively parnoid. I found myself gripping the seat in tension.

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday dear me
Happy birthday to me!

6:30am: Wake up, open presents
7:25am: Sing happy birthday
7:30am: Figure out new espresso machine, make cappucinos
9:40am: Sing happy birthday
9:45am: Make eggs benedict
10:20am: Eat eggs benedict
11:00am: Sing happy birthday
12:30pm: Watch Departed -the new Martin Scorsese film about the mafia, trust me, you can't go to that well too many times

More to come...

Look to the left, there is a new item in my sidebar (not yet fully customizable in terms of colour) called "Duncan's Shared Items." I use Google Reader as my RSS reader, and I can choose as I read the news every morning if I want to share a particular item or not. If I do, the headline and a link to the article appears there in the sidebar. Neat, huh?

Thanks to a friend, I got an invite to the Alberta Teachers� Association�s political engagement forum, and wow, does the ATA know how to make politics relatively fun (well, fun for people only hip deep in politics, instead of well past the deep end like this author who finds even bad politics still pretty good). Good engaging speakers, a healthy mix of policy, gossip and networking, and of course, politicians looking to talk to teachers. Some notes:

Frank Bruesker, Liberal MLA and now President of the ATA, has joined the PC party but he wanted in on the most democratic leadership process available � the fact that the PC party is electing a Premier also helps. It is further shocking because as far as Liberal MLA�s go, Frank is one of the least liked by the current leadership of the PC party for his attacks on the Premier. But beyond that, let me assure you Frank is a good guy.
Robert �Bob� Cantwell is crazy. Dr. Morton is a nanny-state loving socialist in comparison. My favourite quote: �Our schools today are nothing more than houses of debauchery and drugs.�
Everybody wants to do something about the unfunded liability in teachers� pensions. As Mark Norris said, it is a complex issue and I can�t do the issue justice here. The short end of it is that during the belt-tightening of the 1990's Alberta's teachers assumed responsibility for a third of their pension liability (the future cost of providing pensions to retired teachers). Now that liability is $6.7 billion, the teacher's portion being $2.2 billion. That's a lot of cash - both for the government and 35,000 teachers. The difficult position is that upon becoming an Alberta teacher you instantly become responsible for your own portion, or $62,857. And it's growing. Oberg will pay it, but only if teachers agree to only a 6% per year pay increase for 10 years, and no strikes. Stelmach wants to negotiate, and Hancock wants to assume responsibility for it. Dinning will reopen the discussion and Norris, well as I said he called it a complex issue.
All of the candidates present (Dr. Morton, Vic Doerksen and Gary McPherson were MIA) except Cantwell agreed to some degree that education funding was too low. I agree.
Mark Norris was on the front of the Edmonton Sun on Saturday kissing Phil Klein on the forehead. That same day he announced to the ATA that he had a cold. I hope Phil is ok, and doesn't catch Mark's cold.
Hancock takes the medal for best dig, telling Dinning "You weren't there for the heavy lifting but you had time to cut and run" - a reference to Dinning's departure from government when he cut our spending and then left for the private sector. Runner-up was Oberg with his comment that "Everybody on this panel, well almost everybody [pointing at Cantwell] wants the best public education system in the world here in Alberta."
Teachers still don't like Dr. Oberg.

Good times. I thought it was interesting how engaged all of the candidates (minus Cantwell) were on education. All nodded when Hancock suggested education was the key to the important decisions we have to make as a province. Hopefully this means the candidate with the best education policy wins.

Also, don't forget Frank Bruseker's advice - get involved. With a one member, one vote system the PC party is the best vehicle to have your voice heard this year. Test drive a Premier.

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