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mygif

Every damn ad next election cycle needs to hit home this: “the Tories don’t want you to know the truth”

That’s compelling shit. And totally true. The gov’t of openness and accountability don’t want Canadians to know the truth. From the census to F-35s.

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Mitchell Hundred said on May 29th, 2012 at 10:10 am

When I heard that Flaherty said there are no bad jobs, it reminded me of Douglas Coupland’s words on the ‘McJob’. Namely, that it is often considered a viable career option by people who have never had one.

I don’t think the robocalls scandal will endanger the Tory majority, though. There’ll probably be some byelections called, but the practice doesn’t seem to have been widespread enough to warrant a do-over of the whole election.

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mygif

I am not so optimistic that the election shenanigans will cause a do-over, but it is nice to know that people are finally paying attention to the Tory bullshit that’s been flying under the radar for the last 6 years or so…

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mygif

I’ll grant you that the largest breweries in the US are terrible, but there are many alternatives.

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Voodoo Ben said on May 29th, 2012 at 6:10 pm

I am SO JEALOUS of Canada right now, you guys.

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Why exactly does Canada need F-35 Fighters

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Sean C. said on May 29th, 2012 at 7:35 pm

Because our current air force fighters are thirty years old and on the verge of falling out of the sky.

Now, there’s good cause to question whether the F-35 specifically is the right plane for the job, but the need for newer, more modern aircraft is undisputed by all parties.

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mygif

I wish the majority of Canadians were sensible enough to punish these guys for their many misdeeds. But I’ve become cynical enough that I don’t think we will.

Tangent: on Twitter the other week I said Tory MP Dean Del Mastro is an embarrassment to his riding (he is), and some Tory supporter with the party logo as his avatar started trolling me by insulting Thomas Mulcair. I told him I didn’t care if he insulted Mulcair, and he immediately lost interest in me.

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Sean D. Martin said on May 29th, 2012 at 8:04 pm

every story that can be simplified down to “the Tories don’t want you to know the truth” just reinforces those earlier stories.

Would that the non-Republicans here in the US would focus on publicizing just that simple a message.

Alas.

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Sean D. Martin said on May 29th, 2012 at 8:10 pm

except that they do care about those policies that directly impact them, and more pointedly they tend to care about those policies which they have personally experienced previously in their lives.(1)

(1) Which often differentiates them from Americans, who can experience selective amnesia about such things.

It isn’t that American’s are forgetful about the policies and programs that they’ve experienced personally. It’s more that they’re ignorant as to which they’ve experienced personally. Hence you get such comments as “The last thin we need is government getting involved in running Medicare.” and “I’ve worked my way up from being on welfare and food stamps on my own. Nobody every gave me a hand out.”

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mygif

The NDP, polling-wise, now essentially own the Atlantic and Quebec, are dominant in BC and statistically tied with the Tories in Ontario and Saskatchewan.

To which I say: this should not be surprising.

Er… it shouldn’t?

I mean, I’m an American, and thus not as informed about Canadian politics as about my own, but isn’t the fact that those who are disenchanted with the Tories are turning to the NDP rather than the Liberals, as has been the pattern in the past something that is, in fact, legitimately surprising?

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Mitchell Hundred said on May 29th, 2012 at 9:06 pm

Actually, Murc, I read an article a while back that had some interesting things to say about the decline of the Liberals. It basically said that a lot of their support stemmed from the fact that they were the primary not conservative party, causing more progressive blocs of voters to rally around them. They occupied a sort of murky centre in Canadian politics. Now that Liberal support has fallen, the NDP is seeming like a more viable choice for progressive voters, and more people who might have voted Liberal are opting for them.

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Travesty said on May 29th, 2012 at 9:26 pm

Reading this makes me wish that my father’s family had stayed in Canada and that I’d been born there. Hearing people actually respond to political scandal that isn’t ‘semen on a dress’ or ‘ohmygod, scary black president, I don’t think he’s American’ is encouraging.

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mygif

What Kyle W. said. A lot of Americans (I can’t reasonably say a majority) don’t like the national American beer brands, full stop.

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bunnyofdoom said on May 30th, 2012 at 1:45 am

And may I point out that today, politics have gotten really interesting. Something is afoot!

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Walter Kovacs said on May 30th, 2012 at 2:14 am

And of course the other half of the equation which is that the Liberal Party now is like the PCs after Mulrooney, so as the only other option for most people, they benefit the most from the Tories losing support.

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The Crazed Spruce said on May 30th, 2012 at 2:53 am

I stopped trusting the Conservatives around the same time they started airing attack ads on the Liberals long before calling an election. Then they tried to push through a bill cutting advertising funding to the other parties. Then Harper talked the Governor General into proroguing parliament because the other party leader had a problem with that bill, and threatened to form a coalition. (Which, of course, Harper claimed would destroy democracy with as much fervor as a Republican claiming that gay marriage would do the same to “family values”.)

This past election, our riding (Labrador) went Conservative for the first time since I can remember (and I hit voting age in the early 90’s). And I’m sure partly because of that (but probably also because he’s the first member of the Innu tribe to be elected to parliament), he even got a cabinet appointment. I tell you, though, after his handling of the Burton Winters incident, it’ll amaze me if he’s reelected. (I’d go into detail, but there are better places for that rant, I’m sure.)

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mygif

There are basically three types of Canadians: People who are totally apolitical (to an almost harmful degree), people who hate the Conservatives, and idiots.

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mygif

but isn’t the fact that those who are disenchanted with the Tories are turning to the NDP rather than the Liberals, as has been the pattern in the past something that is, in fact, legitimately surprising?

Not really. It was legitimately surprising a year ago, maybe, but the fact that they are staying with the NDP (who have been fine, and who chose a competent leader) instead of going to the Liberals (who have been silent, and who still have an interim leader) isn’t really a surprise.

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Greg Morrow said on May 30th, 2012 at 2:04 pm

I love being an American. But I envy Canada for having a populace of generally nice people who give a shit and value knowing stuff.

Down here in Texas, we have a vocal majority who are all “NO WAY you are giving MY DAUGHTER a safe effective free vaccine against an STD that causes cancer! You pervert!”

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mygif

… I’d actually be kind of interested to see an article here that looked at the current state of Canadian microbreweries in comparison with the U.S. I just realized that I have no sense of how Canada was affected by the craft brewery movement.

I doubt anyone is going to argue with the premise that the major American breweries are crap, and also that they must continue to enjoy an embrassingly huge market share. What’s nice, though, is that these days, at least on both coasts (I haven’t travelled in the midwest or the south), a beer-lover who doesn’t want to touch the mass-market swill usually has a very good selection to choose from, some local and some national. I’ve yet to hit a bar or restaurant that doesn’t offer a couple of microbrews and a couple of imports.

If you remember what the selection was like in the 70s, it’s a good time to be a beer drinker.

Anyway… yeah, not a very important subject, but I’m kind of interested now to know what the Canadian beer landscape is like.

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The Unstoppable Gravy Express said on May 30th, 2012 at 3:33 pm

Mmmm… beer landscape… (drools)

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JSR1138 said on May 30th, 2012 at 3:47 pm

Waaaaait… Canadians make fun of American beer? Well, I am a spoiled Seattleite with easy access to dozens of awesome microbreweries, so maybe that explains why I always make fun of watered-down Canadian beers. (Seriously, WHY does it taste so weak?!?)

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DistantFred said on May 30th, 2012 at 6:52 pm

Whether or not American beer is better or worse than Canadian beer is IRRELEVANT, because Canadian culture loves making fun of American beer. Whether or not it’s accurate doesn’t change that it is a cultural standby for Canadians that we have better beer.

JSR – You live in a large city on the West Coast, an ideal set of conditions for craft beer, which means I’m guessing you don’t really drink major labels at all if you can help it. The joke operates on the basis OF major breweries.

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bunnyofdoom said on May 31st, 2012 at 12:45 am

I live in Ottawa. Off the top of my head, there are the wellington breweries, Kitchissip (my personal favourite), Mill Street, Unibroue, Hogsback, 3 brasseurs, Great Lakes Brewery, and others in my local LCBO. There is a nice good big selection of microbrews.

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mygif

For all its faults, Texas being the source of Shiner Bock means that we’ll always have the edge on Canada on the beer front. 🙂

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mygif

To be clear: the major American breweries, all of which produce swill, enjoy such a huge market share that I feel that any mocking of “American” beer tastes is largely justified.

It’s just that when I think “Canadian beer”, I also think of your largest breweries, which granted furnish better mass-produced beer than the American equivalents. I just wondered what else is out there.

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