Friday Link Grab Bag
A few random Friday thoughts:
1. Don't expect this weekend's NDP convention in Vancouver to be nearly as exciting as Wednesday night. Still, the possibility for riots and/or make out sessions does exist when delegates begin debating a motion to repeal the Clarity Act.
2. Speaking of the NDP convention, FarandWide has a good blog post up on NDP attempts to squeeze the Liberals.
3. The Liberals, meanwhile, will be holding an extraordinary telephone convention this weekend, to determine when we'll pick a new leader. Truth be told, I haven't decided how to vote yet - as I've said before, neither a 5 month mad dash or a 2 year marathon are appealing leadership options. I have writen to the LPC in support of Jeff Jedras' motion to hold the leadership vote next fall - I still think that's too far out, but it beats the alternatives.
4. Kudos to the Liberals and NDP for speaking out in favour of an asbestos ban. I've given the NDP some flack on this blog for choosing politics over principle in the past, but I'll give them props for doing the right thing, even if it doesn't jive with their new role as protectors of Quebec.
5. Samara has a fascinating report out, based on their MP exit interviews.
6. One incoming MP who managed to grab headlines this week was Elizabeth May, who was the sole voice in the House opposing the extension of the mission in Libya and the passage of mega trial bill.
While it's important for May to stay relevant, she'll need to learn to pick her battles - the quickest route to a headline is not always the quickest route to relevancy.
1. Don't expect this weekend's NDP convention in Vancouver to be nearly as exciting as Wednesday night. Still, the possibility for riots and/or make out sessions does exist when delegates begin debating a motion to repeal the Clarity Act.
2. Speaking of the NDP convention, FarandWide has a good blog post up on NDP attempts to squeeze the Liberals.
3. The Liberals, meanwhile, will be holding an extraordinary telephone convention this weekend, to determine when we'll pick a new leader. Truth be told, I haven't decided how to vote yet - as I've said before, neither a 5 month mad dash or a 2 year marathon are appealing leadership options. I have writen to the LPC in support of Jeff Jedras' motion to hold the leadership vote next fall - I still think that's too far out, but it beats the alternatives.
4. Kudos to the Liberals and NDP for speaking out in favour of an asbestos ban. I've given the NDP some flack on this blog for choosing politics over principle in the past, but I'll give them props for doing the right thing, even if it doesn't jive with their new role as protectors of Quebec.
5. Samara has a fascinating report out, based on their MP exit interviews.
6. One incoming MP who managed to grab headlines this week was Elizabeth May, who was the sole voice in the House opposing the extension of the mission in Libya and the passage of mega trial bill.
While it's important for May to stay relevant, she'll need to learn to pick her battles - the quickest route to a headline is not always the quickest route to relevancy.
Labels: asbestos, Conventions, Elizabeth May, riots, Samara
posted by calgarygrit at
9:00 a.m.
6 Comments:
I believe the third report is It's My Party
By
Anonymous, at 11:44 a.m.
That Samara Report is cool. I think it would help political discourse in this country if more people understood what it said.
Short version: There is no political class. No one joins federal politics because they're happy with the way it currently works, everyone sees themselves as an outsider. The vast majority of MPs ran for office because someone asked.
By
Anonymous, at 11:52 a.m.
What battle is more important than fighting an uber-expensive raft of crime bills which will divert funds away from social services to pay for the incarceration of more Canadians? The whole mandatory minimum sentences thing is not only going to bankrupt the penal and court systems (not to mention making busts of harmless 6-plant closet grow ops more dangerous to law enforcement officers since formerly harmless growers will now have to assume they're going to jail if busted): it may be unconstitutional altogether - not to mention morally wrong - to imprison cultivators of marijuana(at the very least medicinal marijuana growers who can't find a prescription). To pass legislation like this without review because we're scared after the courts screwed up and released a bunch of gang members who should never have been released risks having the cure be worse than the problem it's meant to address. Not to mention the bill will have no effect whatsoever on those gang members in question.
I'm just taking one example of failure from the legislation: I'm sure there are other doozies in there.
Kudos to Elizabeth May for singlehandedly being the opposition voice of reason in the otherwise castrated 41st Parliament
By
Anonymous, at 1:06 p.m.
Since you have a popular picture on you site I thought I'd give the story behind pose. This was from SDA in one of the comments sections"
"re: the kissing couple
I listened to an interview with the boy's father today. Apparently, the young woman in question had been clocked in the head by a police shield (and really, you can see how slight she is; why was that necessary?). She fell to the ground, hit her head again, and her boyfriend came to her aid. According to the boy's father, they weren't actually kissing; he was just whispering to her, trying to console her.
I've watched a lot of video from Vancouver, and the G20 last year, and while I have no time for the rioters in either case, I don't think the police should win any awards either. For a group of people who trumpet their "professionalism", some (not all, of course) cops seem to lose it pretty quickly, and become thugs in their own right. Look at the case of Adam Nobody in Toronto - he was just watching what was happening, when a group of six cops swarmed him, and beat him severely. And being the fine, upstanding, honourable people they are, the cops responsible all "forgot" who was involved in the fracas, even though amateur video clearly identified one officer.
So to all of you who made snide remarks about the young lady - how would you like it your daughter went down to watch a hockey game, a riot breaks out that she isn't participating in (again, according to the boy's father, they were unsure of the best route to take to get out), and a cop comes by and slams her head with his shield? She's lying on the ground, in an unfortunate pose, in pain and bleeding, and some opportunistic photographer takes a shot that everyone misinterprets as wanton sexuality? Shame.
Posted by: KevinB at June 17, 2011 8:35 PM "
I think the photographer could settle if it was a kiss or the above is true - we may never know.
By
Clown Party, at 11:29 a.m.
@Clown Party: according to the photographer, he didn't know what he had captured until he was reviewing his pics later.
But to repeat what has already been said many times and which might help folks to better understand the purported context: the boyfriend went to comfort the girl after she had been hit, and gave her a kiss to aid her comfort.
By
Anonymous, at 5:31 p.m.
We now know that the unconventional Liberal convention has decided to give Robert Rae a full two years to bring the remnants of the Liberal Party further to the left before a new leader is elected.
We won't discuss the opportunities for fraudulent participation in the format chosen: I doubt it would have been an issue given the matter(s) under discussion, but it's not a format I would want to see repeated often.
By
Anonymous, at 5:36 p.m.
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