Friday. Instead of being pure TGIF, Friday on a week of has a bit of a sting, a little nip at the heels. It doesn't help that it is the last Friday of being forty-five. Forty-five is a year with numerical comfort. It is balanced. It is even a bit jaunty. Forty six has none of that. By next week, I will be wearing Sears golf shirts around the house. I will be considering adding Yanni and Zamfir to the CD collection. I may have to get a gardening service in to ensure the lawn is all it really should be.
- I would love a world with NYC to LA by train in 14 hours. Note that Ottawa to NYC is included in the plan.
- Interesting Iggy quote about his uncle and my old prof George Grant. Characterizing conservatives as quitters is an interesting tactic, especially as the numbers begin to look so bad for Harper's Party of One.
- By the way, would you reinstate the 2% GST the Conservatives took out of the Federal coffers to cut the deficit by 12 billion a year? I sure would. Never noticed it. Never missed it. I like my fiscal policy "tax and spend" rather than that "tax and borrow then spend" of Torynomics.
- Brian Mann is right. Unleashing the loonie right and giving them justification is a self-inflicted wound for the conservative movement. Was this why Harper cut lose the libertarians?
- Ambush.
- What the heck is the CBC thinking expanding local TV news to 90 minutes at suppertime? IN addition to the cuts to local news staff, given that there just isn't 60 minutes of "local news" coverage for most markets and no audience in the places there is, this looks like a euphemism for rehashing Newsworld content or some other sort of repeats.
- I saw two grand slams yesterday. I also reconfirmed that a Hoffmans snappy griller is a fine thing.
- As an exercise, I plucked observations from a Twitter flow for the beer blog. I am not sure that this is a great way to actually build an aggregated picture. But it is a cheap way to pass off something as research.
Comments
seanie - April 17, 2009 9:53 AM
I question the CBC plans.. I mean seriously, unless you live in a MAJOR center, is there really 90 minutes worth of news to be watched every day? In Kingston, nope. Maybe 10 minutes if one were so inclined to go beyond reading the headlines online. Maybe, just maybe, they will open 30 minutes of that up to locally produced documentaries? But even then, I doubt that will amount to more than 30 minutes a week.
Jay Currie - April 17, 2009 6:32 PM
Poor Harper. He ignored the socons, he scorned the speechers, abandoned the libertarians so now all he has left are the "Liberals are Satan" partisans. Now, frankly, Dion was more like a plush toy than Satan so the gambit worked. But Iggy, well Iggy may very well be Satan - but he is a damned attractive, intelligent man who would know who George Grant was even if he had not been his uncle.
Iggy leaves Steve looking like a stubble jumper in a bad suit. And while (based on the week excerpt of his new book in the Globe) he may very well be scary, he is also interesting. No one has ever accused Steve of being interesting.
So, having underbussed the socons, speechers, libertarians, Reformers and, well, conservatives, from the CPC Steve has no one to stand with him as he attempts to storm the Toronto Party enclaves. And he has no one to blame but himself.
Alan - April 18, 2009 9:05 AM
He has really become what he abhors, hasn't he - he is in power to be in power. To his credit he has not had a huge scandal. That is something. To he debit, he has only not had a huge scandal. He is a negation. He has made the country less than it was but not made it more than it was either. Hey, that is the cleverest thing I have ever written... if, you know, you saw things on as many levels as I do.
David Janes - April 19, 2009 8:23 AM
I don't think Harper has anyone left on his side except the "I'll vote Conservative until the day I die"-types". Enjoyed a long rant from a lawyer friend with similar politics to mine this weekend about Harper's proposed changes to how bail works. The word "fascist" was used.
Alan - April 19, 2009 10:44 AM
It will be interesting to watch him on the way down, as he becomes a lame duck while Iggy's rating rise. I think it will boil down to a contest between his desire to keep others out of power and his simmering disinterest in the job. I think he packs it in before running the losing campaign to come.
David Janes - April 19, 2009 12:40 PM
He strikes me as a bitter ender. He won't, however, be able to run back to Alberta and say "Canada never really gave me a chance"
Jay Currie - April 20, 2009 2:23 AM
I'm with David on the end game. I think Harper will have to be dragged out of the Langevin Building.