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Strategic voting in Canada
Barry Kay: Without splitting the left-of-centre vote, Conservatives could not form the government.
With the Canadian election approaching, incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper appears destined to remain in power, with the only question remaining being: How much power will he attain? Senior Editor Paul Jay sat down with Barry Kay, who's own seat distribution forecast at http://www.wlu.ca/lispop shows Harper's Conservative Party just two seats away from forming a majority government. This despite the fact that the vast majority of Canadians support parties that campaign to the political left of Harper's policies. Barry explains both the reasons for this phenomenon in Canadian politics, and the sort of strategy which would be required to ensure an electoral outcome more reflective of the Canadian populace.
Dr. Barry Kay is a Professor of Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University. His research focuses on the topics of elections and public opinion. He is a past member of the Canadian National Election Study team, and recent publications pertain to electoral systems, public opinion polling, and the impact of single-issue interest groups. He has developed a model for projecting parliamentary seat distributions from popular vote or opinion polls, which is updated regularly and can be found at www.wlu.ca/lispop. He is also a political analyst with Global Television, for their national election coverage. Barry Kay: Without splitting the left-of-centre vote, Conservatives could not form the government. ... more -
Ditch the penny: NDP
Most pennies are sitting in jars. They're expensive to make. Australia got rid of their penny years ago, saving them lots of money. How much longer do we have to wait for this logical, inevitable change? Most pennies are sitting in jars. They're expensive to make. Australia got rid of their penny years ago, saving them lots of mone... more
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Kathleen Parker vs. Palin vs. Right Wing
Right wing columnist Kathleen Parker has been viciously attacked by over 11,000 right wing emailers for saying that she thought Sarah Palin wasn't qualified for the job. We're used to seeing the media attack the left wing bloggers by quoting anonymous comments left on our blogs which is supposed to be a fair substitute for our own writings. It's about time the right was exposed for this behavior as she appeared on CNN's Reliable Sources to discuss this incident.
KURTZ: Here is what you wrote this week: "Allow me to introduce myself. I am a traitor and an idiot. Also, my mother should have aborted me and left me in a dumpster, but since she didn't, I should off myself."
Now, this is all because some readers didn't like what you had to say about Sarah Palin.
PARKER: Some people were very upset. Approximately 11,000 so far, and counting.
Yes, I wrote about Sarah Palin stepping down from the ticket. I felt after her third interview -- I didn't think any of her interviews were very good, but the third was catastrophic -- that she ought to leave the ticket and let McCain try to put somebody else in place to do a better job and help him with maybe the economy.
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KURTZ: What about the reaction? All those e-mails, all the vitriol directed at you, I mean, that has got to be somewhat depressing. Are you expected because you are on the conservative side of the spectrum to defend any nominee the Republican Party throws out there?
PARKER: Apparently. Apparently so.
KURTZ: And for those who missed the column, you said -- this was after one of her encounters with Katie Couric -- "If Palin were a man, we'd all be guffawing. And if B.S. were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself." Right wing columnist Kathleen Parker has been viciously attacked by over 11,000 right wing emailers for saying that she thought Sarah ... more -
Sarah Palin's Bridge to Somewhere
Tell us why this is interestingI mean the one who bases foreign policy experience on the proximity of Russia to Alaska and who speaks cutely about Vladimir Putin poking his little head into American airspace. Where did they put her?
The Palin who performed so miserably in one-on-one media interviews was nowhere to be seen during Thursday night's debate with Joe Biden. Instead, the affable, tough, determined pit-bull-hockey mom presented to the GOP convention was back with a jaw-jutting, happy-warrior vengeance.
So, yes, I am relieved. I had been concerned that she would stumble badly and humiliate herself. No fair-minded person wanted that. In fact, she managed to control the debate in many respects by bridging from the question asked to the talking point she wanted to hammer.
She was often too cute by half -- winking and gosh-darning her way through the debate -- but she did what she needed to do. Among other things, she declared a populist war of Us vs. Them -- everyday, honest, hardworking Americans against Wall Street, greed, corrupt politicians, liberals and, of course, the media.
Poor Gwen Ifill was irrelevant -- a second-tier actor in Palin's morality play. Over and over, Palin skipped past Ifill, as well as Biden, to speak directly to the American people. I am one of you, she told them. And these people -- Democrats and the media -- are neither of us, nor for us.
And she said it in the nicest, gosh-darn way, bless her little heart. The GOP loved it, but did anyone else? Did Palin change hearts and minds? Probably not. My suspicion, bolstered by early polls, is that people left the debate with their original impressions intact.
To Democrats, she's still a dangerous lightweight, though possibly more so than they suspected because she is also a charming and effective manipulator. To Republicans, she's a bright light, a change agent, a reformer and a maverick who identifies with real people around the kitchen table.
With the very first question about the bailout bill -- was this the worst of Washington or the best of Washington? -- Palin went straight to her hockey mom narrative, though she switched to the more mainstream soccer field.
"As we try to figure out has this been a good time or a bad time in America's economy, is go to a kid's soccer game on Saturday, and turn to any parent there on the sideline and ask them, 'How are you feeling about the economy?' And I'll betcha you're going to hear some fear in that parent's voice."
Of course, if you go to a Starbucks today and ask the iPodder blogging on her Apple about Sarah Palin, you're gonna hear some fear in that person's voice, also. Betcha!
Palin's strategy throughout the evening was to avoid questions to which she didn't have answers and rely on the American people to like her so much they didn't care. Tell us why this is interestingI mean the one who bases foreign policy experience on the proximity of Russia to Alaska and who speaks ... more -
Conservatives wage PR battle against gay service
Social conservatives, sensing they are on the losing side of a public relations war, are plotting ways to turn military leaders against the service of gays and lesbians, according to emails obtained this week by the Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In an exchange between Colleen Holmes, director of the Eagle Forum, and Jack Jett, a talk show host, the Eagle Forum leader inadvertently forwarded a message laying out a strategy to use “horror stories” about gays in the military to show that gay troops “threaten our national security” and the “personal safety” of other soldiers.
The email from Holmes suggests using the “horror stories” tactic as part of what she calls a “PR battle that it seems needs to be waged” to “recruit members of the military” to enlist in a culture war against gays and lesbians. It acknowledges that such “horror stories are very difficult to find,” but could be wielded as an effective tool to combat the “‘Will and Grace’ effect” in which the cultural trend toward tolerance of homosexuality works to “manipulate and flat-out bully many Americans away from taking any position indicating that homosexuality is wrong.”
Read the whole article by clicking on the cartoon. Social conservatives, sensing they are on the losing side of a public relations war, are plotting ways to turn military leaders agains... more -
To some evangelicals, Palin's career violates biblical teachings
"The Alaska governor has lifted John McCain's support among conservative Christians, but some believe her work outside the home has turned 'husbands lead, wives submit' on its head."
LA Times Staff Writer Teresa Watanabe writes an interesting piece about how some conservative Christians view Palin's selection in light of their church's teaching that "a wife's role is to be her husband's helpmate (Genesis), 'workers at home' (Titus) and submissive to her husband in everything (Ephesians)." "The Alaska governor has lifted John McCain's support among conservative Christians, but some believe her work outside the h... more -
Are Canadians mostly progressive or conservative?
Murray Dobbin: The right has convinced Canadians that their values will never become public policy.
As Canadians prepare to go to the polls on October 14th. The question of a majority conservative government continues to play in the minds of voters. Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated last week that Canadians have grown more accepting of conservative ideas. Journalist and Author Murray Dobbin does not agree.
Murray Dobbin, Vancouver based, has been a journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist for over thirty five years. A board member and researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, he has written five studies for the centre including an expose of charter schools and ten myths about the Canadian tax system. He has been a columnist for the Financial Post and Winnipeg Free Press, contributes to the Globe and Mail and other Canadian dailies and now writes a column for the Vancouver on-line paper The Tyee. He has written five books, three of them critical profiles of Canadian politicians. His latest book, Paul Martin: CEO for Canada? exposes Martin’s corporate agenda for the country. Murray Dobbin: The right has convinced Canadians that their values will never become public policy. ... more -
Coulter: Blame minority housing law for meltdown
Blame for the current economic crisis has been laid on many doorsteps, including the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999; credit default swaps; hedge funds; the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000; Alan Greenspan; and Phil and Wendy Gramm.
But it has fallen to right-wing pundit Ann Coulter to blaze a truly simple path through the maze of credit derivatives, collateralized loan obligations, tranches, securitization transactions, and Thomson Financial League Tables.
This gentle lady spells out the source and origin of the current economic crisis:
"THEY GAVE YOUR MORTGAGE TO A LESS QUALIFIED MINORITY!"
Coulter is putting forward an argument popular (who could be surprised?) among besieged conservatives, that "social engineering" is the root cause of the current economic crisis -- in the form of a 31-year-old law passed during the Carter administration by a Democratic Congress, the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, "intended to encourage depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations."
In Coulter's words, traditional yardsticks of a mortgage applicant's ability to make payments were replaced with "nontraditional measures of credit-worthiness, such as having a good jump shot or having a missing child named 'Caylee';" the result, Coulter continues, is that "middle-class taxpayers are going to be forced to bail out the Democrats' two most important constituent groups: rich Wall Street bankers and welfare recipients."
To make sure her meaning is clear, Coulter echoes a line from the famous anti-affirmative action "White Hands" commercial Jesse Helms used in his 1990 campaign against black challenger Harvey Gantt. The ad shows a pair of white hands crumpling a job rejection slip as the voiceover intones, "You needed that job, you were the best qualified. But they have to give it to a minority because of a racial quota."
Coulter is in the forefront of a concerted drive to shift...
Read the Rest at link... Blame for the current economic crisis has been laid on many doorsteps, including the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernizati... more -
Conservative Bay Buchanan Gives Palin Debate Advice - Funny
With friends like these...
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David Cameron delivers speech to Tory Conference
Eight days ago, Gordon Brown addressed the Labour conference and said "it's no time for a novice" referring to David Cameron. Today, Cameron has a chance to answer that charge. Follow his speech here, live update by the Guardian. He'll be speaking about policy, politics, the economic downturn, and other issues. Eight days ago, Gordon Brown addressed the Labour conference and said "it's no time for a novice" referring to David Ca... more
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God Bless Our Two Party System
Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Liberal, Right or Left, pick your choice, no need to think.
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Conservatives fear Palin is a liability
"I've been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly," Parker, an early supporter of the governor, wrote in a post-Couric interview column. "I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted."
politics, election, republican, palin, mccain, president, debate, couric, interview, conservatives, biden, obama "I've been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly," Parker, an early supporter of... more -
Conservatives to crack down on youth crime
The Tories have carved out a niche as the tough-on-crime party, focusing on stiff punishment because they say it is a deterrent.
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Tories pledge council tax freeze
The Conservatives have promised to freeze the English council tax for two years if elected at the next general election.
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Tory politician blames career women for family breakdown
Family breakdown is linked to a 'Bridget Jones generation' of university-educated women, a senior Conservative said yesterday.
They cannot find partners with academic interests and career prospects to match their own, David Willetts added.
so basicaly career are to blame for all family breakdowns. UH OH i can feel a wee debate coming on here!! Family breakdown is linked to a 'Bridget Jones generation' of university-educated women, a senior Conservative said yesterda... more -
THE SHIT PEDDLERS
All the myths that are floated as truth, is nauseating beyond the puke bucket. The right-winged, learned ones who perhaps didn't sleep through all of their college courses, whip out the dialogue of mendacity every time they are threatened to be overthrown by THE OTHER PARTY. Oh they keep their fairytale myths alive all through their years of control but election time is when they really roll up their sleeves and get the SHIT shovels lined up to cover us all in blankets of Repulsive Untruths against our common senses and THE OTHER PARTY.
I picked up a newspaper belonging to a red bible belt area where many of the followers or better word SHEEP live and who desperately want to believe the crap their Right-winged commanders spew forth, even if it doesn't quite make sense to them.
I started reading a column that appears often in this paper by Walter Williams. This educated man pulls out statistics that I swear comes from the same source Rush Limbaugh uses... THEIR BUTTS! So easy to make up figures and so difficult to search out real honest to goodness facts... I know I try and searches do cost you in time. Better to just accept the SHIT thrown your way, because said SHIT is sort of how you want to see it anyway.
But I digress, getting back to this conservative column writer, he wrote an article on how we are so much better off today than say the 1930's or the 50's... WHAT? Mr. Williams doesn't want to use wages and income to show how things compare, he rather use consumption... WHAT, AGAIN in this credit card era?
He claims it takes an average worker today, 2 hours to earn enough for 10 gallons of gas compared to 6 hours in 1935...(who had cars back then, I'll bet it wasn't your average minimum wage earner) Same with food, claiming it takes 1.7 hours today to buy a "BASKET OF FOOD" and 6 hours of work in 1950... (I would like to see what the hell is in Mr. William's "BASKET OF FOOD"!) Most homemakers baked their own bread, biscuits and cakes and meals were from SCRATCH, because they didn't have to work outside the home... Today's busy Mothers have to work a 40 hour week plus shop, cook, clean and take care of their children... Ain't NO Easy Job, I know I held the double shift for years and years. Anyway, read his article at this link: http://www.creators.com/opinion/walter-williams/scaring...
But you might want to get the puke bucket handy.
The below article is what I call "deja vu all over again" a Yogi Berra quote that says it all.
The Real Reagan Legacy http://www.americanpolitics.com/20020319Hersh.html
Debunking Myths About Reagan ... It tells a tale of how the Reagan years almost took our nation down... Almost, but not quite... All the people who voted Reagan in for 2 terms watched this happen but listened to the SHIT the Right-winged ones gushed, so not a lesson was learned. That is why they voted George W Bush in for 2 terms so HE would have the distinguished honor to finish our beloved USA off. Poor McGrumpyPants won't have too much to work with if the SHIT peddlers manage to pull the SHIT over the voters EYES, EARS AND STREET WISDOM once again. thinkingblue.blogspot.com
PS: Sorry I used the word SHIT so often but no other word can describe so clearly what has happened to our Nation. (NOW THAT'S REAL McCLARITY FOR YA! :-? )
PS2: I know, I know there will be some who will accuse me of the very subject I am writing about... One thing I have to say to them... THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING! Who was in charge for the last 8 years... As Barack Obama would say "IT WASN'T ME!" All the myths that are floated as truth, is nauseating beyond the puke bucket. The right-winged, learned ones who perhaps didn't ... more -
Tina Fey does Palin again
SNL spoofs Sarah Palins 3rd interview since becoming the Republican VP nominee.
What makes this so funny is that it appears that Feys lines are alomost word for word from the transcript or the real interview. SNL spoofs Sarah Palins 3rd interview since becoming the Republican VP nominee. ... more -
Conservatives say Palin should Bow out
After seeing her recent interviews.
The article states:
Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker, admitting that until recently she was a vocal supporter of Sarah Palin, now says the vice presidential nominee should bow out:
Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick -- what a difference a financial crisis makes -- and a more complicated picture has emerged.
As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.
Parker says her turnaround came from watching Palin in interview. Like other critics, she wasn't impressed:
Palin's recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.
No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I've been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I've also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.
Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there's not much content there.
It's so bad, Parker says, that Palin should quit the race:
Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first After seeing her recent interviews. The article states: ... more -
Study reveals difference between liberals and conservatives
From the report: Political conservatives operate out of a fear of chaos and absence of order while political liberals operate out of a fear of emptiness, a new Northwestern University study soon to be published in the Journal of Research in Personality finds.
"Social scientists long have assumed that liberals are more rational and less fearful than conservatives, but we find that both groups view the world as a dangerous place," says Dan McAdams, study co-author and professor of human development and psychology at Northwestern University. "It's just that their fears emerge differently."
To better understand the differences between politically conservative Christian Americans and their liberal counterparts, McAdams and Northwestern University co-author Michelle Albaugh asked 128 socially active churchgoers this question: What if there were no God?
"Social scientists -- who are generally liberals -- have for decades done research to figure out what makes conservatives tick," says McAdams. The study, "What if there Were No God? Politically Conservative and Liberal Christians Imagine their Lives without Faith," available online to journal subscribers.
Like the Northwestern study, the preponderance of research finds that conservatives fear unchecked human impulses that challenge the status quo. What McAdams and Northwestern researcher Albaugh also find is an underlying, but different, fear that drives liberals as well.
"Political conservatives envision a world without God in which baser human impulses go unchecked, social institutions (marriage, government, family) fall apart and chaos ensues," says McAdams. Liberals, on the other hand, envision a world without God as barren, lifeless, devoid of color and reasons to live.
"Liberals see their faith as something that fills them up and, without it, they conjure up metaphors of emptiness, depletion and scarcity," McAdams said. "While conservatives worry about societal collapse, liberals worry about a world without deep feelings and intense experiences."
The study findings may shed light on why conservatives prefer more authoritarian leaders while liberals do not, he adds.
"What's clear is that it is their political and not religious orientation that underlies the different psychologies of political conservatives and liberals," says McAdams. After all, all of the adults he and Northwestern researcher Albaugh studied were members of churches, and their data suggested that most were socially involved, altruistic people.
The Northwestern University study sample included 128 highly religious and politically active Americans who attend church regularly. Although nationally conservatives are more likely to attend church than liberals, the Northwestern study was set up to sample equally from religious conservatives and religious liberals.
The researchers also observed gender differences, but said they did not interfere with the relationship between political orientation and narrative themes. The study is part of a larger project that looks at the relationships of faith, politics and life stories in well-functioning American adults. It is funded by the Foley Family Foundation in Milwaukee. From the report: Political conservatives operate out of a fear of chaos and absence of order while political liberals operate out of a... more -
Improving Paulson's Cure
Liberal Democrats are in agony over bailing out Wall Street. Conservative Republicans are in agony over massive government intervention in what they like to call the free market. Yet neither side wants to be blamed if the financial system implodes.
It gets more complicated: An administration whose critics believe it abused the power it grabbed during a different kind of national emergency, after the Sept. 11 attacks, is asking for unprecedented authority over the financial system. Yet the man leading the charge this time, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, is one of the few administration officials trusted by Democrats.
All this is happening suddenly, and just six weeks before Election Day. Both presidential candidates are wary of getting on the wrong side of the public's justified populist fury or its desire for prudence in the face of potential catastrophe. Liberal Democrats are in agony over bailing out Wall Street. Conservative Republicans are in agony over massive government interventio... more
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