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Politics interlude
Oct. 11th, 2007 07:22 amOne quick thing about yesterday's election: it's easy to continue in power when your opponent is an absolute moron.
Just saying, is all. For some unknown reason, the Conservative leader decided to make the biggest issue in the election something entirely bizarre, to the detriment of all other issues. John Tory wanted to extend public money to all religious schools. Uh, no. Because of that, and because his campaign was run with the underlying message "if you don't vote for us you're a bigger idiot than we thought, you idiot", Tory lost in his own riding. By nearly 5000 votes. Running against the current Liberal Education Minister. HA. HAHAHHA.
Way to shoot yourself in the foot, asshat. Run a campaign where you sneer at your opponents and then fight for something that no one thinks is a good idea (don't get me started on the schools thing)... and the CBC morning show keeps snickering at him for losing his riding and reminding us of all his other political failures. HA. HAHHAHAAAA.
Also. According to the radio, barely more than 50% of the eligible voters turned out. I find it pretty damn irresponsible for anyone to decide not to vote because they don't care; just because you don't vote doesn't mean the decisions made by politicians won't affect you. Tuition. Health care. Public transit. All these things are run by taxes and *surprise* the people who make decisions about how to use these taxes are the people we elect.
Sometimes the choices are depressing, but there were seven people on my riding's ballot - running the gamut from scary Ayn Rand objectivists to snuggly tree-huggers. Surely even for the most disgruntled voters there's someone there worthy of your X. If you want to make a statement, show up and spoil your ballot. The point is to show up. If you can't be bothered to get even a half-assed grasp on who's running and participate in the system then you deserve crowded broken buses, crushingly high tuition and no family doctor.
And yes all the major candidates sound the same. Yes the issues spoken of in the election were mostly irrelevant. Yes the marketing surrounding the electoral reform referendum was worse than terrible. However, I spent my afternoon researching, made a choice and voted because I care about my city.
IN OTHER NEWS: The first RIAA file-sharing case went to trial, and the nasty criminal? A Native woman who's a single mother, making $36K/year. Of all the possible defendants, it had to be her. Wired, linked above, says:
The RIAA, after all, is the guardian of an industry so antiquated and oppressive that having sympathy for these guys is a little like feeling sorry for a Georgia slaveholder after watching Sherman's troops fire his mansion and scatter his livestock.
The column goes on to laud Radiohead for offering their music direct to audiences for nearly free, and reports that the vast majority of downloaders are paying Radiohead market value for their music. I paid a little less than that, but more than a penny. (And the album? Not bad at all!)
Just saying, is all. For some unknown reason, the Conservative leader decided to make the biggest issue in the election something entirely bizarre, to the detriment of all other issues. John Tory wanted to extend public money to all religious schools. Uh, no. Because of that, and because his campaign was run with the underlying message "if you don't vote for us you're a bigger idiot than we thought, you idiot", Tory lost in his own riding. By nearly 5000 votes. Running against the current Liberal Education Minister. HA. HAHAHHA.
Way to shoot yourself in the foot, asshat. Run a campaign where you sneer at your opponents and then fight for something that no one thinks is a good idea (don't get me started on the schools thing)... and the CBC morning show keeps snickering at him for losing his riding and reminding us of all his other political failures. HA. HAHHAHAAAA.
Also. According to the radio, barely more than 50% of the eligible voters turned out. I find it pretty damn irresponsible for anyone to decide not to vote because they don't care; just because you don't vote doesn't mean the decisions made by politicians won't affect you. Tuition. Health care. Public transit. All these things are run by taxes and *surprise* the people who make decisions about how to use these taxes are the people we elect.
Sometimes the choices are depressing, but there were seven people on my riding's ballot - running the gamut from scary Ayn Rand objectivists to snuggly tree-huggers. Surely even for the most disgruntled voters there's someone there worthy of your X. If you want to make a statement, show up and spoil your ballot. The point is to show up. If you can't be bothered to get even a half-assed grasp on who's running and participate in the system then you deserve crowded broken buses, crushingly high tuition and no family doctor.
And yes all the major candidates sound the same. Yes the issues spoken of in the election were mostly irrelevant. Yes the marketing surrounding the electoral reform referendum was worse than terrible. However, I spent my afternoon researching, made a choice and voted because I care about my city.
IN OTHER NEWS: The first RIAA file-sharing case went to trial, and the nasty criminal? A Native woman who's a single mother, making $36K/year. Of all the possible defendants, it had to be her. Wired, linked above, says:
The RIAA, after all, is the guardian of an industry so antiquated and oppressive that having sympathy for these guys is a little like feeling sorry for a Georgia slaveholder after watching Sherman's troops fire his mansion and scatter his livestock.
The column goes on to laud Radiohead for offering their music direct to audiences for nearly free, and reports that the vast majority of downloaders are paying Radiohead market value for their music. I paid a little less than that, but more than a penny. (And the album? Not bad at all!)
