853...Great Minds Think A Like [Or Read My Blog]

I have taken a bit of a licking for not subscribing to group think and for saying that Elizabeth May is a kamikaze pilot but I am vindicated a bit by Kalvin Reid's editorial in today's Ottawa Sun where he says pretty much the same thing about her ill fated decision to run against Gary Dunn, the Minister of Sport, in Saanich-Gulf Islands.

I agree with Mr. Reid that the Green's would be better served with at least one elected MP.

Where I don't agree with Mr. Reid is when he says that he thinks Ms. May is a leader without "political acumen". Oh, no, she has a lot of political acumen it is just the self aggrandizing kind and I sincerely believe by tilting at windmills like Peter McKay in Central Nova and Mr. Dunn in Saanich-Gulf Islands, in combination with getting her face on the national debates, she is martyring herself into the cash for life confines of the Senate.

WFDS

827...Elizabeth May Deathwatch V. 3

And it is not just me who thinks her plan to run in Saanich-Gulf Islands is not well thought.

Here is a cut and paste from this morning's Halifax Chronicle-Herald:

May-first plan dubious in quest for Greener pastures


Fri. Sep 11 - 4:46 AM

A POLL last month suggested that more than 40 per cent of
 Canadians would like to see Elizabeth May win a seat in the
 House of Commons. Unfortunately for her, there is no
single riding in Canada in which she might automatically
 command 40 per cent of the vote.

The Green Party leader, who has tried her luck in two places
already, is faring progressively better as she
goes along in her quest to get elected.
In a 2006 byelection in London North Centre,
she finished second with 25 per cent of the vote,
 and in 2008 she was a respectable runner-up in
 Central Nova with 32 per cent support.

But Ms. May has since concluded that felling regional
 rainmaker Peter MacKay is too tall an order.
The absence of a Liberal candidate was designed
to help Ms. May, but the Tory defence minister
also succeeded in increasing his score six
percentage points over the previous election's results.
 And so Ms. May has split for the other coast and
announced her intention this week to challenge another
 Conservative cabinet minister in B.C.

The new No.1 priority of the decision-makers
 in the Green Party is to get Ms. May elected,
 no matter where. Hence the quixotic,
 cross-country quest for greener pastures.
 Unfortunately, her vagabond candidacy and
 tendency to publicly muse about suitable
 ridings only succeeds in exposing her to ridicule.
 It makes her look flighty, and for what?

Does the Green Party really need a seat
 in Parliament while it has Elizabeth May?
 As the leader of the fifth party,
 which garnered 6.8 per cent of the popular vote last year,
 Ms. May already punches far above her weight on the national scene.
 She attracts plenty of media coverage even
 in between elections and last fall she got
 a seat at an important table - the televised leaders' debates.
 Many Canadians were surprised to discover Elizabeth May as the feisty debater,
 the solid performer and the well-briefed and witty policy wonk.

It's hard to see what further advantages a Commons
 seat would confer on Ms. May, apart from a decent
 salary and some parliamentary perks.
 She would not get any more time of day, or power,
 in the House than Independent MPs do, which is to say very little.
 Nor would this pulpit boost her national profile much more than she already has,
 although it would give her bragging rights as the first Green elected to national
 office in North America.

So the Green Party's new tack - pouring all
 its efforts into getting Ms. May elected as a parachuted candidate
 in one of Canada's most green-friendly ridings - seems like more
 trouble than it's worth. It's trouble all
 right. Greenpeace activist Stuart Hertzog
 is challenging her for the nomination in Saanich-Gulf Islands
 next week, decrying the top-down decision-making within the
 party as being contrary to grassroots Green values.

Unquestionably, Ms. May is an asset to
the Greens, but concentrating on building
 up the party's assets - getting more votes
 nationwide and thus more federal
 electoral funding - would better
 serve the party's cause in the
 long run and better prepare
 it for a future
 without her at the helm.

See, I am not the only one who does not subscribe to group think.

WFDS

784...Can You Say Slap On The Wrist?

I know you can.

That is what happened to Belinda Stronach's ex boyfriend yesterday.

The Montreal Gazette reports that her ex was fined 200 dollars by the federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson for failing to disclose that he was a director of a company that could have benefitted from federal forestry grants.

The company, Beaver Lumber, was and is owned by the ex's dad, Elmer McKay, who, like the ex, is a long time Conservative insider.


WFDS

781...Learn From The Country

With the best beaches.

The Canadian Press reports that Peter McKay our Defense Minister is going to Australia to get some tips on a proper procurement property for our military.

Apparently their way of buying stuff is super cool and everything.

Plus, let's face it, going to Oz on the dime of the Canadian taxpayer is pretty awesome.

WFDS

770...The Arctic Is Secure

The Canadian Press is running a story that says that, on the down low as it were, last month the Danish defense chief Admiral Tim Sloth Jorgensen got a tour of the Canadian Arctic, the Arctic that his tourmates Stephen Harper, he's the PM, and Peter McKay, he's Belinda Stronach's ex BF, are letting slip away.

But props to the Tories, having the Danes and their multi man army on our side says something.

I am not sure what it says but it says something.

WFDS

636...Elizabeth May Death Watch

It is only a matter of when will it happen.

The leader of the Green Party, who ran a kamikaze campaign, and not even a good one at that, the plane hit the water not the ship it was aimed at in the last election, she was taking on Peter McKay, the Conservative wunderkind and cabinet minister and got schmeered in the process, is threatening to run in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound according to a report that I read in the Owen Sound Sun Times this morning.

Well whoop de f'ing do.

The Greens did finish second in the riding last time out with about 28 per cent of the vote but it was a cakewalk for the winner, Tory Larry Miller, who got 48 per cent of the vote, a massive victory.

A crowd of 100 heard her speak last night.

That should tell you something, oh great leader of the Green Party.

WFDS

356...18 Billion Is A Lot Of Money

Global National last night tackled the issue of how much the war, the War in Afganistan, is costing you.

Hard to get a number on it; Prime Minister Harper and the boys are very secretive about the whole thingy.

Anchorman Kevin Newman stated that "The future cost of the Afghan war has now been declared a national security secret. The government has never easily offered it up. During the election, Global National's reporting led to the release of an estimate...Canadian taxpayers, unlike those in most other countries, are now being asked to support a war they're not allowed it to know the cost of." Jacques Borbeau, a Global reporter, then said "Last year, DND released figures showing how much taxpayers will spend on the Afghan war over the next three years... this year, the defence department is now refusing to give up those numbers, arguing this is information which could reasonably be expected to be injurious to the conduct of the defence of Canada."

Or it is super expensive and for what?

Defence Minister Peter Mackay says the decision to keep the numbers secret was not his, well, dude, seriously, you are the Defence Minister, the buck stops at your desk.

The number bandied about in the report is 18 billion. Canadian dollars.

Here is why you should be upset.

18 billion shortens health care wait times, fixes highways, makes mass transit more efficient, lowers the cost of and improves schools at all levels.

18 billion is a lot of money.

WFDS