"Well I'll be damned! There goes Vellacott!! Looks like Rathgeber and Toews have started a real vogue, here!!!"
The Whip
I think I read somewhere that it was not until the 1970's that the candidate's name on the ballot was accompanied by the party affiliation, and that it was not long after that, the candidate required the nomination of the party.
This, I think, is what broke our system.
The expression, "Congratulations. You have chosen a colour. You may now quit thinking" is a pretty apt description of today's political landscape. Harper's party openly and actively reinforces this misconception by openly stating that when we vote for a local candidate, we are actually voting for a team. We are voting for a leader. We are voting for the Beloved Leader. We are voting for Harper.
I hasten to add that the other parties are not much better. The Liberals in particular still suffer under the delusion that they can annoint the next messiah.
Didn't work with Ignatieff, and, god willing, it won't work with Trudeau.
If I am going to commit to a colour, it will be green. And sorry, Elizabeth, I meant the Roughriders.
There, I DO bleed green.
Thank you for your patience. All Of The Above is by way of introduction to this:
Parliamentarians and the yoke of party discipline.
Go. Read. And then discuss amongst yourselves. I'm going for supper now.
Hoedown
Something for the afficionados of (1) trail cameras, (2) bluegrass, and (3) pole dancing.
(Lord Vanscoy has proffered proof that he is at least ONE of the above!)
More here. H/T The Galloping Beaver.
There goes another one!
"Well I'll be damned! There goes Vellacott!! Looks like Rathgeber and Toews have started a real vogue, here!!!"
Game Day
GAME NOTES:
GO RIDERS!!!
- Kory Sheets will attempt to be the first Riders running back in team history to have five straight 100 yard games. Of the 572 yards he has gained through the first four weeks, just under two-thirds of that (376) has come in the 2nd half.
- Of the last 53 back-to-back series in the CFL, there have been 29 in which there has been a split with the winner of the first game winning the second one 24 times.
- In the 2nd and 3rd quarter, the Riders have outscored their opposition by 61 points in the first four games.
- Darian Durant goes into the game six completions away from 1500 career.
ETA THIS: The GOPHERNADO!!!
Thanks, Hamilton! We love you!
(Except for Henry)
C'mon
HEADLINE, NYT: " Iran Is Said to Want Direct Talks With U.S. on Nuclear Program"
Come ON. Murcans don't care. They NEED a villain. They have a bloodlust born in the bone which REQUIRES a villain. An "other".
Of COURSE we'll give him a fair trial. March the guilty bastard IN!!!
After all, we have ALWAYS been at war with Eastasia.
And real men want to go to Tehran.
No? Just me, then?
It's The Weekend, Kiddies.
Kick back.
Dog Opens Door ...
The Man Behind The Desk
The rich ARE different
Even deep down ...
. . . I am really very shallow.
Vespers
Riders' Number One Draft Pick ...
. . . in 2032!
Gone Fishing
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
"That's not a lie; it's a terminological inexactitude. Also, a tactical misrepresentation."
- General Alexander Haig
"It doesn't have to be true; it just has to be plausible."
- Tom Flanagan
"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital."
~Aaron Levenstein
Sunday Afternoon Concert
Brought to you through the good offices of Lord Vanscoy.
Noblesse oblige.
Welcome To The Weekend, Kiddies
Let's boogie!
h/t driftglass
Number one in our hearts, number one in the charts
Dear Murcans:
Too bad. Lost first place here. But still number one HERE!!!
But don't get too comfy, America. Canada is gunning for that title, too!!!
A Tale of Two Cities
Toronto - a cosmopolitan world-class city - has Rob Ford: an ignorant, fat, neo-con redneck dope-smoking (allegedly) homophobic (allegedly) middle-aged white asshole for a mayor. (Yeah, I already know I'm going to hell)
And Calgary - the supposed redneck capitol of the world - has Naheed Nenshi: a Shi'a Muslim who has completed a Master of Public Policy from Harvard, and who is an urbane, sophisticated, committed, worldly, literate and articulate leader as ITS mayor.
Go figure.
AND - both cities have flooded this summer.
My heart goes out to the residents of both cities who have suffered losses due to flooding.
But particularly to the citizens of Toronto, who have been doubly cursed. And the sympathy is doubled because ONE of the curses they brought upon themselves.
Just where is karma in all this, I wonder?
Torontonians who mocked Calgarians for development in flood plain all wet.
— Coco Cabrera (@coco_urnews) July 9, 2013
Yet MORE!!! (So it's not just me then ...)
(One caveat: Calgary IS Stephen Harper's riding ... karma, again???)
It's Time
What Do Canadians Stand For?
"Democracy? Not so much. For the most part, Canadians hold their democracy in contempt and have no desire to fight to improve it. It's a-okay for most Canadians (or at least an indifferent matter) if the government of the day lies to them about the costs of the multi-billion dollar policies and outright refuses to show the people's representatives the facts about their true costs."
Continue reading here. Thwap says it much better than I could.
Hershel's Farm
ETA WHAT???
Good News
Feel-good story of the day.
At first ...
When I first saw this headline, I thought, "No way. Canada does NOT need a president."
But after reading the article, I think this:
Canada does not need a president. But we also don't need a queen, a governor general, lieutenant governors, a senate or a speaker of the house.
Bloody useless, the lot of them.
Of course, that's just me.
I could be wrong.
Welcome to the weekend, kiddies!
Big Rider game tonight, and tomorrow is the 100th birthday of the RM of Willow Creek. Pancake breakfast in the morning, cutting the cake in the afternoon, and a dance in the evening.
Hoping to see some ex-pats.
Come on home. You know the way.
Take the back roads!
Relativity
Game Day
Riders take on the Stamps at home. Kickoff is 7 pm. Roster and depth chart here.
Go Riders!!!
ETA Video RECAP
Fakers and Cons
h/t Alison and Montreal Simon
Extra Credit: Stephen Harper's Military Jacket Is Irritating and Offensive
Deconstructing Sgt. Pepper
Chapter and verse HERE.
nighthawk
n. a recurring thought that only seems to strike you late at night - an overdue task, a nagging guilt, a looming and shapeless future - that circles high overhead during the day, that pecks at the back of your mind while you try to sleep, that you can successfully ignore for weeks, only to feel its presence hovering outside the window, waiting for you to finish your coffee, passing the time by quietly building a nest.
- from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
Happy Canada Day
Or, for those of us who are well beyond our "best before" date, Happy Dominion Day!!!
