winter elections have no winners, only whiners and weiners.

prior to our last federal election in 2004, i took a gander at the political platforms of our major parties (click title link). as we will soon be having another, i thought i'd take a break from essay writing and exam studying to take another gander. now i have two ganders. the liberals don't mind two ganders marrying, but the conservatives do.

the Liberal Party: fronted by the embattled Paul Martin, the federal finance minster who didn't notice 250 million dollars being funnelled into adscams in Quebec.

it's been 12 years of liberal rule and they've been an entertaining bunch. the 2004 election resulted in a minority government for the red team and this most recent term featured much hilarity in caucus.

a) Mississauga-Erindale MP, Carolyn Parrish
this outspoken minister's big mouth against both Bush and Martin led to her firing from the Liberals in november 2004. her anti-Bush sentiments, while echoing the opinions of a lot of informed and uninformed Canadians alike, were out of line. Martin's attempts to beseech more tact in regards to our southern neighbours only resulted in her pretty much telling him and the party to "go to hell." she retained her seat in Parliament as an independent and has since stepped down from politics after the government was voted down a few days ago.

b) Newmarket-Aurora MP Belinda Stronach
on the proverbial eve of a possible government overthrowing in may 2005's federal budget voting, Belinda Stronach, daughter of Magna Corporation founder Frank Stronach and York University drop-out, crossed the floor to join the Liberals, swinging the budget vote narrowly in favour of the minority government. citing irreconcilable differences with party leader Stephen Harper, his bedmate, Le Bloc Quebecois, and certain party policies, Belinda Stronach dumped the Conservative Party two years after helping form the party and a year after vying for its leadership. In doing so, she also dumped her then boyfriend Peter MacKay, deputy leader of the Conservatives. She was immediately promoted to human resources minister by Paul Martin. The Newmarket-Aurora riding is predicted to be one of the hotly contested seats this coming election. Many who voted for Belinda the first time around when she won narrowly by 689 votes are still smarting from her treachery.

like i said: hilarious.

that aside, the Liberal Party hasn't really changed. they remain the safe, and ironically conservative vote as they try to not rock any boats. embroiled in the controversy of the sponsorship scandal, Liberals would love to avoid controversies at all cost, but they just keep popping up.

internally, as a throwback from Martin's finance minister days, the Liberals like to whittle away at the country's huge debt with budget surpluses.
internationally, the Liberals are still safe and conservative, occasionally butting heads with the States on trade issues (softwood lumber, cattle), so they're goody-goody, but not very ambitious in pursuing any particular courses of action. this laissez-faire attitude has perplexed most people, most notably Bono Vox of U2 on the humanitarian front.

their 2006 campaign will probably follow the same winning formula that we've seen for so many years now, tax-cuts and happy promises that will somehow get accidentally swept under the rug. and time permitting, they will probably demonize Stephen Harper, just like the Republicans did to John F. Kerry.

the Conservative Party, formerly known as the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance (formerly known as the Canadian Reform-Alliance (formerly known as the Alliance and Reform parties) Party) Parties: lead by Stephen Harper, who just can't seem to find an identity.

The Conservative Party is was the official opposition party of Canada. Harper, and by extension the whole party, plays this role to the hilt and insists on contradicting everything Liberal and red. i'll bet he hates strawberries. backseat grumblings indicate that if Harper loses this election (that he finally had the cajones to call himself), he will be ousted from party leadership.

where Harper goes, the party follows. the Conservatives have lost a lot of credibility (at least in my opinion) because of Harper's 'leadership'. he leads about as well as i can keep 4-4 time (not very well). he doesn't actually lead, per se, but rather waits for the Liberals to do something, and then tries to contradict it.

they recently offered to cut the GST to 5%. but then they proceeded to explain their math and that was much less appealing.

the New Democratic Party: Jack Layton, puppet of Olivia Chow.

when i first saw Jack Layton with his wife i immediately thought, "Oh no! Yoko Ono!" i have no empirical basis for this opinion, but i've decided to keep it because it makes me laugh. thus, i believe that Olivia Chow is the actual party leader of the NDP. since no one would vote for a woman (let alone a Chinese woman) after Kim Campbell's short-lived tenure as PM, Chow needed a white, male puppet. too bad no one voted for her in her own riding. she certainly is more strong-willed and assertive than Harper.

the NDP was suddenly thrust into the spotlight in the previous government when they held the swingvotes. the Liberals needed the NDP to vote for them on key issues which gave the NDP a substantial amount of sway - the little big man on caucus.

NDP policies are centrist and they try to be a voice for the common wo/man, rather than for the bigshot businesses like the Liberals and Conservatives. but since the businesses are bigshot no one really listens to the NDP unless they really HAVE to.

Le Bloq Quebequois: Gilles "so serious that i can't make fun of him" Duceppe.

the Bloc have followed their gameplan for many decades. hate Canada! separate!
in a vain attempt to garner votes Duceppe vowed to form a Quebec national hockey team (brodeur, luongo, theodore, lecavalier, st. louis, lemieux, gagne, briere, bergeron, briesbois, desjardins). of course IIHF only recognizes actual countries in their tournaments. at least this idea has put the Bloc on people's minds, fruitless as it may be. worth the laugh.


in any case, i stand by my previous stance:

you got me

tagged by sharon

5 random facts

1) hoimin is a reference to the mouse in the short cartoon "Herman and Catnip" from "Huey and Friends". the mouse was named Herman and he had three nephews (just like Daffy Duck and Toucan Sam) who all had severe linguistic disabilities. everytime Catnip trapped them they'd squeal, "uncko hoimin! uncko hoimin! catnip's got us! help! help!"

2) i was a relationship counselor in grade 8 and made business mainly by causing the ruckuses myself.

3) i wanted to be a birdwatcher back in grade 3. when i realized the utter lack of financial gain, i ditched that dream for becoming an astronomer. then a baseball player. then a comic book artist. then a paleontologist.

4) my earliest childhood memory was of my first trip to hong kong in 1986. i kissed my aunt's dog (i think it was a black lab.), in a spontaneous display of joyous affection, right on the nose just as he greeted me when the door opened. i acquired a lip infection as a result. however, i do not recall the flight on which i walked up and down the plane aisle charming my way to bits of cheese from other passengers, but i apparently did so and was good at it.

5) i had the biggest crush on this girl named jessica. she had hazel eyes and luscious, curly brown hair -- easily the prettiest girl in grade 1. we were usually the first ones to finish our handwriting assignments (grade 2 stuff!). one time i barfed in the hall after an assembly and she was the one who wrapped a jacket around me and patted my back. in grade 2 she taught me how to braid her hair, but i got in trouble for doing it during story time and had to sit a two-minute time-out staring at the paper towel dispenser. we were split up into different classes in grade 3, after which i changed schools and never saw her again.

In Season and Out of Season - Margaret Avison

Today the blueness burns
inbetween new greens and space's
soundless blackness.
Yet we even now
discern more, cry;
No, lovely as May is
we would hear more.

Moses, you are the voice
the Voice spoke with.
Centuries have not, will not,
still that, therefore. The marvel
of the pitched cradle of reeds, the appeal
to a ruler-murderer's daughter's
mothering heart, the barter
of true for foster care that became both;
your growing,
that unexceptional miracle
of years: it all made way for
what? One small pure drop --
anticipation? hope? -- hung on life's
strange leaf-edge; trembling in the light
for years, for all your years indeed,
for "By faith Moses...".* It is said.

Exult in warmth and depth
of branches here? Yes, and yet Antarctica
in this same season,
snarls, pounces, gnaws -- even while
today the earth
rejoices in deliverance in this zone.

Moses, your early privilege turned
when you saw abuse into
an alienating cause? What burned
was not the authorities' heartless
indignation, not
mute slaves', not
even your own
violent indignation, in the end.
Bare-soled on desert sand
you bowed,
you bartered with your seclusion for
your people's whole concern,
the Other's deep concern,
finally given to both.

For many days
here, a sagging cloud and stiff
dark mat of branch and twig,
clacking, entombed us all. Now that winter's over
the trees and shrubs are thimbleberried with
chestnut flowers, with deep-breathed lilacs.

Moses, how does your solitary death --
and you went up the lonely crags
as bidden --
follow? Did the Voice
seek silence then? from faith
were you led ... further?
It may be heaven is the
light that ... conceals?

Your longing then was
not so much to
realize the Land for you were
sure about the Land
long since by faith,
but to be brought
where the celestial Other would
be known in fullness
however dark?

He saw the Lord. He, Moses, was seen
transfigured too, in mountain light, when
much was made plain by once
caring enough to pray to be
blotted out.
(For he had stood among his
fractious protesting people; he
recognized too his own
moment of failure to
stand with the Voice, heeding instead
an unholy flare of
exasperated nature. Once. Enough.)

Not in season, in the revolving
solar system, in which we turn
changeably, always.
Not without the appalling
lightless depth. Not but as a way station
perhaps is the
unimaginable light where
all maybe is plain.

who do you like?

i won't tell anyone else.
if you tell me, i'll tell you who i like.

i've lost interest

in pokemon.

this is a big, emotional step towards growing up.