tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2022452485619502579.post1525520693321334007..comments2024-03-28T09:38:52.661-04:00Comments on thwap's schoolyard: Canada: The Best Damned Democracy That Money Can Buy!thwaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15399550285738440669noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2022452485619502579.post-66750375662813978322010-07-12T07:15:25.186-04:002010-07-12T07:15:25.186-04:00No blah,
I'm losing all hope. This stuff is b...No blah,<br /><br />I'm losing all hope. This stuff is black and white, or it ought to be.<br /><br />Like Alison says, this is how the empire has been managed for us elsewhere and most Canadians have been quite content to remain ignorant.<br /><br />When we on the left try to inform them about East Timor, Iraq, Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico, Vietnam, etc., etc., Haiti, Somalia, ... it's always "Yes, yes." with heavy condescension or worse, "Why do you hate America?"<br /><br />Alison,<br /><br />I noticed that napthenic acid. I never took chemistry but it registered on a subconscious level, from all the reading i do, that that's a nasty substance.<br /><br />Taking it off the list of things to study is pure, USA-style, bought-and-paid-for politics.<br /><br />Eugene,<br /><br />No. I'm pretty hopeless. Harper getting a bump in the polls after G20 shows that our opposition is useless, our society is poisoned.thwaphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15399550285738440669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2022452485619502579.post-62192474849447446922010-07-12T03:47:40.477-04:002010-07-12T03:47:40.477-04:00Very good summary of various things as back story....Very good summary of various things as back story. One can take your conclusion in two ways, either hopeless or gotta change it all. Even I go back and forth on that, observing ups and downs. Human, I guess.Eugene Forsey Liberalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05538109652483033119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2022452485619502579.post-54964264949440826002010-07-12T00:09:28.785-04:002010-07-12T00:09:28.785-04:00I had to look up Miley Cyrus - 4 seconds I won'...I had to look up Miley Cyrus - 4 seconds I won't get back yada yada.<br /><br />That little snippet I posted from Schindler's testimony is tip of the iceberg but easy to grasp. The biggie is the government's decision to exclude the very toxic naphthenic acid - the main source of pollution dumped into tailings ponds - off the list of tracked substances altogether. I think this may have been what blew up the committee.<br /><br />n-b-b-b- : We have been quite content to be corporate colonialists of the third world for much of our history and we are also quite content not to know anything about how our various governments have managed it. Not until it comes home, not until we feel what it pleases us to call 'our rights' under threat, will we pay much attention to the workings of government beyond the occasional electoral circus. Twenty years ago most people I knew voted; twenty years later the same people don't.<br />"Game on" will not happen until "Conservative support becomes a majority".Alisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09811694143714068436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2022452485619502579.post-13436299316743240222010-07-11T20:39:28.991-04:002010-07-11T20:39:28.991-04:00I'm discouraged too, but I wouldn't lose a...I'm discouraged too, but I wouldn't lose all hope. The system has its many flaws, but with any luck, people in the future will study this period of time, learn, and fix the holes. It sucks for now, but we're not going away.<br /><br />As for the lack of public reaction to the G20 incidents, I used to joke that the lack of shift in public opinion polls to Conservative actions was the result of Liberal incompetence. After the G20, though, I've come to think that it might be the polarization of the electorate. Instead of a large and uncommitted middle (that can be influenced by campaigning, etc.), we now have a smaller uncommitted middle. <br /><br />It explains the relatively unchanging numbers as well as the fact that the NDP's numbers are steady while the middle switches allegiances between the supposedly-center Liberals and Conservatives. I'd guess that 30% are hardened Conservatives, 25% are hardened Liberals, and 15% are hardened NDP. The rest is either with the smaller parties, or are the uncommitted middle.<br /><br />The bad is that without proportional representation (or its variants), the split in votes will always be a problem. The good is that ultimately non-Conservative support is the majority. We outnumber them. That should be an encouraging sign in a democracy (even one as flawed as first-past-the-post).<br /><br />Until Conservative support becomes the majority... it's game on.no_blah_blah_blahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487214918800237116noreply@blogger.com