Ottawa will be watching this
The UK had an election last night (stand up all those who didn't know that!) and the initial results are very interesting and have implications for us here in Canada.First off they now have a Minority Parliament - a "Hung Parliament" as they say. The first since 1974. That one ended in failure so the Brits don't have much luck with the minority style of governing. That's what makes this time so innovative. Labour, who was the Government is the second place party and the Conservatives, who were expected to win didn't do as well as they thought they would and failed to achieve a majority. Now the fun begins. The third party the Lib-Dems failed miserably to achieve the breakthrough that was expected.
The first implication for us is that the signs point to a real coalition between the Labour Party and the disappointed Liberal Democrats. These folks had seized the imagination of the press in the campaign and were projected to perform miracles but were brought down to earth by the voters who didn't seem so impressed.
The dealmaker for the coalition will be just how far the Labour Party goes with power-sharing and a willingness to bring in Proportional Representation (PR). These two demands will be the key to Labour staying in power with Lib-Dem support. We will have to watch just how well a coalition Government will work because if it does you can bet on some form of similar arangement here between the real Libs (not the blue Martin types who should belong with Harper) and the NDP.
Harper will be watching carefully as some UK Conservative moves echo his moves as the UK Cons threaten to bypass the unwritten constitution and tell the Queen to install them as they received the most seats. Shades of "Who runs the Country"
16 comments:
In your enthusiasm for Labour, you seem to overlook that even Labour and the Lib/Dems together do not have enough seats for a majority.
It also seems near suicidal for the Lib/Dems to hook up with a completely discredited and loser Labour party when they were calling for a new approach to politics.
Besides, don't these parties dislike each other since the Lib/Dem types originally quit Labour due its pigheaded stupid policies?
Lib/Dems are probably on their way out in the long term since their support is so diffused so probably the party will split with most joining the Tories and the rest crawling back to Labour.
I had no enthusiasm for Labour but for the prospect of a coalition that will introduce electoral reform. If the lib-dems go with the cons it will be a stretch considering the cons reject reform and want to stay with FPTP. You are forgetting the nationalist parties from Wales and Scotland who always be ignored by the cons. A lab/lib-dem coalition can work, but who cares who the lib-dems go with as long as they demonstrate that a coalition is not the deal with the devil which appears to be the prevailing Canadian position
It was very satisfying to learn that the Jew-hating, George Galloway and his entire political party (RESPECT) were turfed out of the House of Commons by the constituents. And he was turfed out by the Muslim community to which he grossly pandered.
As for me, I am glad that this pathetic racist asshole financier of a terrorist organization has been politically emasculated, and his political supporters humiliated.
The British working class and lefties knew enough not to vote for him in England, but in Canada, there are still neanderthals kissing his ass in support for his anti-Jewish screeds.
Hooray for democracy and the electoral cleansing of this leftist scumbag.
I duuno, Wally. Maybe after I hear what al-Jazeera has to say I'll get back to you. I'm hoping my carrier, Starchoice, will include al-Jazeera in the 500-Channell Universe they now offer. Otherwise, well, I guess I'll have to switch to Rogers if I want an opinion that differs from yours or Moses Zneimer's. Not that I agree or disagree you understand. And not that I'm not really, really grateful to Stephen Harper and his bun-bo...er...right-hand man, Jason Kenny, for protecting me from the dreadful, horrifying words of George Galloway, it's just that, well, you know...sometimes I get kind of uppity and just sort of like to, well, decide for myself sort of. You don't mind, Wally, do you? I sure hope you don't anyway.
"Jason Kenny, for protecting me from the dreadful, horrifying words of George Galloway"
Wrong. George Galloway's "dreadful horrifying words" have always been permitted into Canada, so I guess the protection racket of Kenny failed on that score. It's Galloway's carcass that wasn't permitted into Canuckistan.
I do watch Al Jazz, as well as BBC, CBC, FOX, CTV, CNN, etc. Make up your own mind -- I have enough responsibilities without having to cater to your mind's cosmetic makeup.
In addition to Al Jazz, I also recommend MEMRI for the fullest coverage by Arab/Muslim media, unfiltered by the leftist political correctmess of Al Jazzy & Mohammed Muffleys.
"Mohammed Muffley(s)"
Love it, Wally! Totally over the top! Mind if I use it?
Only if you abuse it inappropoetically.
Yes, yes, yes, I heard it all before. I'm a bully. I hate women. I threaten 14 year old girls with free speech. It is all so so weary to hear all these ad hominen attacks from you sanctimonious lefties; oh it's just verbal envy because I can trash someone far more effectively than you mediocrats.
I was born into poverty and mostly lived my life on the edge of poverty, but I was given ONE gift -- the power of the tongue. The resulty is that I am not welcome in the Better Poems & Gardens set.
Here is my Mothers Day poem for the bland gland nay-sayers amongst you:
ELEGY FOR MY MOTHER
Reta May Keeler (01/11/1912 - 01/24/2004)
In your beginning was the blood and the breath,
the sharp inhalation of the carnal chaos of life.
Born 6 lb., 6 oz. in the pubescence of a century
of unprecedented carnage and creativity,
the state marked the occasion with certificate 12‑05‑037696.
In the unelectric world,
devoid of devices of diversion,
you flourished in family
and began your career
pushing placenta and parenthood
onto the open palm of life.
And so you earned
your Bachelor of Mom,
graduating into grandchildren
for the Masters of Mom,
but the world wasn't finished
with your dissertation of lineage
and great grandchildren won you
the Doctorate of Motherhood
My trees are not yet barren
because it is September,
but for you, my mother,
a cold wind swept down
with January ferocity,
liberating your soul
for post‑graduate work with the angels.
Your spirit is a kite tethered with umbilical love
and gentle unto the good days,
memories like random breezes tug
-- what is the wind but a woman
loving us with caressing directions.
Your life straddled two millennia.
Your children born in peacetime
bracketed the world's worst war;
so I enjoyed your memories
of the pre‑tek world,
of the pre‑penicillin world;
from pre‑flight to post‑lunar landings,
your life was grounded
graceful as a backyard garden.
I regularly visited to mine your memories,
plucking nuggets of ageless gossip.
On the weekend of your death
I meant to ask you about your first kiss
but you replied with your last three diminishing breaths,
like the ellipsed ending of a love long life sentence...
Defiant of Death Certificate 422‑372‑045
you will remain an unfinished poem
carried into the interstellar future
on the crest of code of dna,
forever in a state of becoming...
If cobbling together parts of words and miscellaneous letters is the fruit of an obviously dysfunctional 'imagi-nation' and allegedly counter to the rampant 'banality' so reviled by that 'imagi-nation', the products of which simply conger up little flashes of meaningless noise that contain no substance of merit towards a purpose of communicating, I'll take plain ol' everyday words that tell me something useful and don't rely on insult and snobbery to attempt squeezing in sporadic and marginally-related trash. Perhaps the 'imagi-nation' would fare far better in a world that doesn't have to deal with the rest of the considerate and literate riff-raff. zzzst!
Oh I figured there would be a banality-boner in the Burd Nest. I agree very much with Deb's assertion that those posting as Anonymous are cowards.
In any event, the self-congratulatory compassionate riff-raff can always rely on highly literate non-fiction writings to satisfy their mediocrity, manuals and such which serve a pragmatic purpose. I notice that Anonymous is bereft of metaphors, similes, analogies -- just verbal envy.
Anonymous is such a nobody. I prefer the literary regard of my peers and colleagues.
Oh, and it's "Imagine Nation" not imagi-nation, my petite semi-literate. Anyway, don't blame me for your lack of residency status in the Imagine Nation. You appear to be as dry as that greeting card wannabe poet, Roy Cowan, tooting the horn of The Ordinary, The Plain, The Boring, The Banal, The Bland -- well, you get the idea.
Pity the Elegy To My Mother turned you so bitter.
Too bad anonymous is incapable of writing plain English. Get a load of that ponderous first sentence that goes on and on and on. PRZT!
For those who respect Galloway, here is a video of him offering his "heartfelt greetings" to Saddam Hussein.
And here is Galloway, being respectful and compassionate and peace-loving, asserting on tv that he wished that the former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (who is in a coma) should "burn in hell for eternity."
Good riddence to leftist trash.
How did a commentary on the UK election turn into a (mostly self)comentary on Wally?
Dear Anonymous:
I highly appreciated your insightful commentary on the UK election -- probably one of the more astute commentaries on this thread. Your example of commentary on the UK elections puts Mr Keeler' commentary on the UK to shame.
Are we to infer that Wally's retort "the self-congratulatory compassionate riff-raff" refers to his assertion that "I (Wally) was given ONE gift -- the power of the tongue"?
- and as for his "Oh, and it's "Imagine Nation" not imagi-nation, my petite semi-literate.", why would he even presume that the one is intended to be the other? - sheer egotism, I suspect.
- and then there is this "Too bad anonymous is incapable of writing plain English" - kinda makes ya tear up, don't it?
Finally, on a more direct note, the post to which he refers was written and sent before his elegy to Mother was posted - it just happened to be posted after the elegy appeared, and had nothing to do with it - unfortunate coincidence.
hopefully this puts it to rest
The cowardly Anonymous spent 78 words in a single sentence to trash my writing style in favour of their plain English. 78 words! That's the length of a paragraph. It's ponderous. It's convoluted. It's excessively complex. It's bereft of similes, analogies, mataphors. It is NOT plain English as Anonymous values.
Oh, excuse me for having an ego. I know Anonymous has one also, but it is a very weak and negligible ego. How do I know? Because they need to hide behind the curtain of Anonymous.
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