Alright! It's Caption Contest Time Again!

Back to being serious, Rafe, I still believe that we can "threaten" our MPs or MLAs with not voting for them and actively campaigning against them when they run afoul of what we want, and are indeed, completely supplicant to the wishes and whims of the "party leader".

It seems to me that in Parliamentary tradition, we have seen the ejection of Prime Ministers such as John Major when his usefulness was no longer demonstrable. If everyone who is p**sed at Gordon Campbell contacted their Liberal MLA (as I have) and indicated that Gordo gets replaced as of right now, or else, they will make it their personal business to work as hard as they can to make sure their incumbent Liberal MLA does not get re-elected, then I am sure we would see some changes.

Warning! The kitty-cat is not cute!

According to Liberal Party of Canada insiders, the kitty is "Just Visiting". It cannot be trusted.

Apparently, Harper calls his cat:

"Stockwell"

The photo of Harper is the

The photo of Harper is the best example of why he can't be trusted: The man is so phony that the vibrations exuding from him should be enough to set off fire alarms.

The main problem, not only here in Canada, but all over the world, is the miseducating and brainwashing of students with the phony religion of neoclassical economics, who are then poisoning the minds of politicians and the public, leading us from one disaster into another. Harper is a good example.

Until this crime wave is stopped, all politicians will be cut the same braindead, phony cookie cutter, leading us under global corporate dictatorship and ultimately into self destruction.

Nobody ever dared to question the murder campaigns urged by priesthoods, as now nobody dares to question the fraudulent theories of this gang of the Priesthood of the Money God.

This is the most amazing part.

Ed Deak, Big Lake.

What's in a name

Layton, Rafe. Jack Layton.

I think it's a bit odd he's the only politician you reference in this column that gets such short shrift.

Grumpy is right

"Canada, as it stands, cannot survive much longer under its present system."

Grumpy is right, the system is breaking down, and people are backing away from politics in droves. I don't blame them.

I voted for the STV for just that reason. I didn't think that STV was the answer, but unless we start the process of change, the status quo and those who benefit from it will not change.

Pretty in blue

Cute article that reads just like a People mag fluff piece and the reviews are in the same leaky boat. What's next? Deciding on who to elect based on their hair colour? Harper's policies are clearly benefiting all Canadians and more people are recognizing this.

The old politics driven by ideology is over, like when Jack Layton declared in January that he was going to oppose the Budget even before he knew what it contained! Canadians have had enough of that confrontational game and will no longer accept the scare tactics based on generating fear, that the Liberals and the NDP always go on about.

Umm

This: Harper's policies are clearly benefiting all Canadians and more people are recognizing this.

Seems to be the current form of the necessary and oft repeated lie.

As Goebbels put it:
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

He also said something else that Pee Wee and his allies in the PR department always take to heart:

“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”

A point which Rafe makes pointedly and well in his essay.

Truth has NOTHING to do with it.

Caption

"Introducing my new Minister of Finance".

The causal linchpin _1

"Grumpy is right, the system is breaking down, and people are backing away from politics in droves. I don't blame them.

I voted for the STV for essentially the same reason. I didn't think that STV was the answer, but unless we start the process of change, the status quo and those who benefit from it will not change." wrote barryeng.

I, of course, on this question, agree with Grumpy, and have been of the same view for a long time. In it's current phase, I have been of the mind that capitalism is on a slow dump into the tank since the Operation Solidarity struggle of the early 80s.The pace has quickened since the inevitable collapse of the so-called "free market" of course, and the rise of corporate welfarism to even new extremes, though it has always existed, and the growing direct linkage between the corporations and the capitalist state against "the people's" interest.

And though convinced of its ultimate futility, I must 'fess, a long time non-voter or participant in the fraud democratic system of capitalism, I voted for STV as well. I felt folks likely needed to experience it, in order to discover its inadequacy.

continued further on...

The causal linchpin_2

And realisticman is again, of course, full of the cock and bull above here, in his reasons for people not wanting another vote. The real reasoning of the masses is more, like myself I suspect, that they know as well as I do that there is no election within the current fraud democratic system, or party of capitalism (including the libs and ndp) that is committed to or capable of making any change to the declining circumstances of their lives anyway. So why waste the friggin' money? They are all in on it, in one way or another, and to one degree or another.

The real danger of the period is not the growing non-participation in the fraud electoral system of capitalism, but the rise of outright fascism as we see being displayed in the health care debate in the US, and in the kind of "national socialist" attempt of the state and corporations to save capitalism from itself by re-regulating it.

Though this fascist danger grows, and has its still more muted parallels up here around the Conservatives, it is too little too late for them, as the crisis now even extends to the capitalist system interface with the planet and all nature as well. And in order for that to change, the system will have to deal with its own endless growth in production and private wealth dynamic, which is to ask capitalism to commit hari-kari (sepku).

The only real potential for finally and entirely resolving the issues and problems of capitalism does not lie any longer in continued genuflection to its fraud Democratic/electoral system, or participation in it, but on the streets and in the workplaces of the economy. Until increasing emphasis and people presence is put there, on the streets, starting with progressive activists, there will be no real solution to the current time, and the cause linchpin in the chain of effects, which is capitalism itself.

It's this, or the only real final solution to its problems which capitalism has to offer, however inadequate itself and destined to fail in the end... fascism.

And then what?

And I understand that the question is then, "So what comes next? Where do we then go after capitalism?"

And we, and all society, do have to have that discussion and debate. First, however, there has to be a "critical mass" understanding evolve, that agrees, capitalism itself is the problem and needs to be finally dealt with. Without this change in thinking and loyalty occurring however, where one is going after that is but moot.

...

That photo is just so over the top, it rivals the cowboy outfit picture.

Makes you wonder if his stylists are Liberal plants.

Say Cheese.

Can't wait to see Iggy's Christmas Card photo.

A word of Cauchon

Martin Cauchon knows that if Iggy goes pop the next leader of the Liberals will be a Francophone, since that is the hard and fast tradition.

He wants that job.

The Mirage of Liberty in the US ...

... has surely evaporated even before the failing sight of aging constitutional 'experts'.

The tyranny of the US Revolution (despite the soaring rhetoric of the Independence declaration) is built into its constitutional foundations - the very 'checks and balances' are designed to ensure its fossilization in the 18th century; an atomistic-Newtonian politic inapplicable for pluralistic evolutionary societies.

Congress, not by accident, lagged Parliament in every major social change of the last 250 years:

Parliament's extension of religious and ethno-linguistic rights of minorities (1763) became a catalyst for anti-Parliament Revolution in America.
Parliamentary 'judicial activists' (1772) provided the basis for the liberation of slaves; another catalyst for Revolution.
Parliament led the abolition of the slave trade(1807), then slavery.
Parliament led the suffrage of women (NZ:1893).
Parliament has proven less repressive, more adaptable and responsive to civil rights for women and minorities.

Canada fails Freedom when it follows Congress ; whether the KKK inspired bigotries against Natives (Indian acts), Asians (Exclusion Acts, Internments) or eugenics.

The anti-Canadians in Parliament act like 17th century Scottish Barons - ready to hand over their country to its larger southern neighbour for a few trade trinkets.

Rafe Mair should know better.

sheep

Sheepish looking fellow in his blue sweater. He has demonstrated and permitted the worst bullying tactics I have ever witnessed in Canadian politics.But, he looks good on TV and in pictures. The sheep vote on the basis of appearance while clutching their pocketbooks and building gated communities.
I agree with your opinions about the leaders, altho' Jack, the kitchen table talker always comes off as a used car salesman to me.
The only remarkable thing I heard Ignatieff say was his question to the press at the end of summer:"Where have you been"
Why do humans try to make stars and idols out of politicians.
What real power does a Canadian PM have? Isn't he just a spokesperson for the Party?
MPs need to be individuals and represent their constituents, and not tow the party line.
Duceppe is a riot. Tells it like it is. And, follow Hansard, you will see that individual Bloc members have brought forth good bills that benefit all of Canada.

capitalists: the shadow government in a fascist society

If the prime minister acts, not on the advice of MP's, but unelected power brokers, then whether or not one votes for the person or the party is irrelevant. So why condemn those that do? Indeed, why devote time and energy picking apart the “big three”?

Is this Mair monologue simply another Seinfeldian episode about “nothing”?

The real question is, “Who are these “unelected power brokers” and why aren’t we directing our attention at exposing those that would like nothing more than to see another global descent in fascism?

Oops! Posted this on the wrong column.

Good article Rafe.

You got it right about all the players. It is probably a good thing that Canadians are less into celebrity worship than they are in the U.S.. Still it is troubling that there seem to be attempts to create the same mentality here. Turning a politician into a "celebrity" gets downright scary considering who these guys really are and what they think about their "fans".

I always wonder about people who can only relate to animals. Maybe he needs a friendly face to counterpoint his smirk. It is hard to pretend you are something warm and caring when all your actions show otherwise. Even the photos are about spin.

The Shadow Government of Un-elected Power Brokers...

"The real question is, “Who are these “unelected power brokers” and why aren’t we directing our attention at exposing those that would like nothing more than to see another global descent into fascism?" writes KWD.

Amen, brother. Shag the wasted time and energy focusing on all the tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum parties and personalities to capitalism..., focus on the capitalist shadow government, the unelected "power brokers" that represents the underlying reality of a "united front" of capitalist state and the corporate ruling class, which is the fundamental definition of fascism.

The minute you put your focus there, the sham of the so-called "democratic system" of capitalism leaps out at you and smacks you in the face, in its obviousness.

Time to stop being taken in by the bullshit, and get at what is really happening here, and what really needs to be done-, which is NOT another pointless election, when the game is rigged from the get go anyway.

Time to move beyond the bullshit "elecroral system" that is rigged to never really change the underlying economic and political status quo realities.

Revolution

or Election? Are those our only alternatives? The mob that stormed the Bastille (and subsequently be-headed the aristocracy) or the great unwashed picking out their own method of execution but unwittingly handing the axe to the executioner? We're screwed either way, it seems.

As human beings, descended from simians, we have tried every governing system conceivable over the ages. But in essence it's the same old, same old. We give allegiance to the one among us who can smack down the other ones who dare to raise their heads above the crowd or point out the Emperor's lack of suitable attire.

But the vote is our only weapon against the tyrant's manipulations. And his maneuvers to get and keep his power over us have also evolved from the axe to the vote. Now it is to his advantage to discourage our thoughtful appraisal of his actions and make us believe we do not have a real choice. Not exercising our franchise is giving tacit approval to whatever action the tyrant chooses. Unless we are willing to revert to violence and select our leaders by personal combat, we have to vote, and vote, and vote again.

We forgot Des.

We forgot that democracy was based on one person one vote implying that every person was equal and at least had equal political clout. We then forgot that in a democracy we should not give political clout to corporations or base political power on who has the most gold. Hence our democracy has been stolen from us. We had faith that the Free Press would protect our democracy but it has instead sold our interests in democracy to the corporations.

Bunch of treasonous puppets

I can't even bother to read this article let alone look at that photo of that phoney, bought and paid for loyal servant of the power elite.

Anyone who thinks that these creeps, which are dangled in front of our faces day and night by the controlled media, have any power and make their own decisions are either very deceived or part of the deception.

Democracy?????

We will never have a true democracy until we change our political system. We must eradicate the political party and insist that all the candidates are independent. Let whoever wants to run for Prime Minister/Premier nationwide or provincewide and the one that gets the most votes gets the top job. Similarly each riding should have candidates who have no political ties and get elected on their merits rather than which gang they represent. Only then will there be incentive for the elected candidates to represent their constituents.

The beauty of this is that special interest groups will not be able to lobby a party to do their bidding. They may have the coin to buy a party's favours, but it's a different thing to to try and influence 86(provincially) or 309(federally) elected candidates.

This would pretty guarantee that the taxpayer would not be subjected to such travesties as the gun registry, fast ferries, sponsorship scandals etc. The power would finally be transferred back to the people.

The status quo just doesn't cut it anymore.

a time for despair?

You got it right, Skywalker, in noting that without a free press, we're hooped. The faint hope today is that the Net will correct that situaion, but I doubt it will.

Which leaves the last ditch hope, word-of-mouth.

Free Press?

Right now, we only have Asper-Press, where some people are more equal than others.