03.09.08
Posted in Other at 5:15 pm by Matt, proud member of the Blogging Tories
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Well Spitfire was nice enough to tag me to write 6 unimportant random things about myself. Please direct hate mail to her if you don’t like this post 
1. You probably already know this from previous posts, but I am a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan. *HUGE*. The band has an open taping policy, so I have over 800 audio recordings of different concerts dating back to 1988 downloaded on my computer, as well as over 80 DVD video disks of concerts I’ve burned. They’re a jam band who are known to play songs dramatically different from one night to the next, and also mix up the setlist quite a bit from night to night, so they always keep it interesting for us Pumpkinheads. I also have all of the rare stuff that the band leaks to it’s fanbase - demotapes, rehearsals, alternate song takes… I just cannot begin to explain what this music means to me - it has gotten me through every emotional crisis I have ever had since I was 10.
In fact, my television behind me is playing the DVD video of the 2008-02-02 concert at Datch Forum di Assago in Assago, Italy.
2. My cat’s name is Grr. I also don’t like cats - I came into possession of him by chance and only accepted the offer because he doesn’t act catlike and has a personality more resembling that of a dog.
3. My ideal room temperature (at which I comfortably wear shorts and a t-shirt without being too hot or cold) is about 17 degrees.
4. I made four snowmen yesterday out of sheer boredom. Hey - it’s not like there’s much else to do with the stuff!
5. My blog was quoted out of context in an Ontario Liberal Party press release in the 2006 provincial election (thanks for the traffic, Warren Kinsella!)
6. I taught myself how to play guitar in 1997 and with the exception of a small break starting in 2003, have been enjoying playing ever since.
I’m not going to tag anyone, I think this has been around the blogosphere a couple of times by now. Feel free to volunteer yourself to be tagged by me for this, I’ll gladly accept your request!
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Posted in Other at 2:17 pm by Matt, proud member of the Blogging Tories
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This post is partially for the benefit of my parents, who are vacationing in Cancun right now…
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03.07.08
Posted in Other at 11:34 am by Matt, proud member of the Blogging Tories
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Here’s a joke to lead us into the weekend snowstorm we’re about to be pummeled with. Have a great weekend everyone!
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A young man from Victoria , B.C., was hired as the lifeguard at the pool at the Prime Minister’s residence at 24 Sussex Drive.
The Harper family was making use of the pool when one of their two children encountered some difficulty and cried for help.
The lifeguard ignored the cries, so Stephen himself had to plunge into the pool to rescue the boy.
Afterwards, Harper grilled the lifeguard. “You ass! Didn’t you see that my son was in trouble?”
“Yes, sir, but I can’t swim.”
“How the hell did you land the job of lifeguard, then?”
”I’m bilingual.”
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03.05.08
Posted in Politics - Canadian, Politics - American, Mainstream Media at 5:15 pm by Matt, proud member of the Blogging Tories
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(Link)
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Posted in Politics - Canadian, Liberal Party at 12:40 pm by Matt, proud member of the Blogging Tories
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(Link)
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02.26.08
Posted in Politics - Ontario, Liberal Party, Crime And Punishment at 7:39 pm by Matt, proud member of the Blogging Tories
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A Brampton woman named Neelam Vir, an Indian immigrant to Canada, has been charged with uttering death threats. Apparently she gave a sachet of mix to make a tasty Indian treat to a McGuinty staffer, and later emailed the Premier asking if he had received it, stating if he hadn’t that Vir would “kill her”. This is all a big misunderstanding on the part of the Canadian criminal law, because we have made a “cultural mistake” in not realizing that sending this type of communication to an elected official is merely a joke.
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Neelam Vir, left, has sent over 200 rambling emails to the Premier since July 2007, at least one of which included a death threat targeted at a staffer.
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Then after being bailed out, she violated the conditions of her bail by emailing the Premier to explain it was all a joke. Oops…rearrested!
Now, I’m no fan of McGuinty, but I certainly wouldn’t wish harm upon him or anyone else. I’d probably get a chuckle if he slipped on some ice, fell on his tush and was sore for a couple days, but I wouldn’t wish upon him any devastating injury or harm.
If you want to talk about “cultural mistake”, I’m much more likely to feel sympathy for this American woman, who was thrown into a Saudi jail for sitting in public with a man she works with.
Vir goes on to say that in India, you cannot even meet face to face with a politician like you can here in Canada. She also sees nothing wrong with emailing a threat to a politician targeted against him/her or their staff. I hardly believe this is the norm in India, although perhaps it would explain why they don’t want to meet with members of the public.
Clearly, Vir has taken no responsibility for what she has done wrong. The cultural mistake wasn’t hers for making the supposed wisecrack death threat, it was ours for not recognizing that she wasn’t serious.
Right then.
It seems that Vir has a chance to learn two important lessons from all of this, and the same quote shows that she has now learned one but missed the other. The first lesson, the one that somehow still hasn’t dawned upon her, is that death threats emailed to politicians aren’t taken lightly in Canada. The second lesson is one in Canadian politics:
“I’m going through hell for a silly mistake. If I’m guilty of anything, it’s being naive,” she said.
“I supported the Liberals in the election. Now I feel they betrayed me.”
Betrayed by the Liberals? In Canada? Noway….I don’t believe it.
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02.24.08
Posted in Politics - Ontario, Conservative Party, Polls, Ontario Votes 2007 at 3:41 pm by Matt, proud member of the Blogging Tories
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I want to crunch a few numbers for you to consider. Vote totals taken from Wikipedia.
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John Tory gave an impassioned plea for support prior to receiving a lukewarm majority show of support. It’s time for PC’s to trust Tory will recognize his mistakes and keep his pledge to run a clear, conservative platform in 2011.
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In the 2007 election campaign:
Dalton received 1,867,192 votes.
JT received 1,398,857 votes.
Let’s assume that the 67% support JT just received is the same support level that he had among party supporters in the last election.
Let’s also assume that nobody in that 33% of disgruntled PC supporters voted Liberal, in order to keep Dalton’s vote total as high as possible.
We’re going to estimate the vote total JT would have had had he 100% support among party supporters last fall. In order to do that, we need to find the factor in which we will multiply his vote total by using the numbers of this weekends vote. That will be represented by ‘x’
67/100 = 100/x
10000 = 67x
x = 149
So, we need to find 149% of his 2007 vote total
1,398,857 * 1.49 = 2,098,285
So here we see that had Tory espoused the support of 100% of party supporters, he would have kicked Dalton McGuinty’s ass by a margin of 231,093 votes. (Of course, we do know that many traditional PC supporters voted for McGuinty - including some Blogging Tories - so this margin is likely a conservative figure.)
Had John Tory espoused the support of 100% of party supporters, he would be the Premier right now.
Just some food for thought.
**
Joanne, one of my favourite reads, offers some good advice to both PC supporters AND to John Tory himself. I have publicly expressed dissatisfaction with John Tory’s performance before, but I will heed Joanne’s wise advice to rally around the leader. After all, the guy isn’t incompetent in the way Stephane Dion is - he made a campaign mistake, and it just happened to be a catastrophic one. If Tory decides to stay on, I really think we need to rally around him.
Kirk West further enunciates this point:
Democracy dictates that 50% + 1 is a majority. Tory got 66.9%. He has legitimacy behind him. Therefore, I’ll stand behind him.
It’s hard to argue with that.
But, John Tory, not everybody will be as easy to get onside as Joanne, Kirk, and I are, and furthermore, if you don’t make some drastic changes, we could probably be just as easy to knock off the bandwagon. Joanne appealed to you to email her and ask for advice - DO NOT PASS THIS UP! In fact, email me too; my email address has been widely circulated among PC Party bigshots and I can be reached through this contact form. Contact as many bloggers as you can. We won’t be rude, we won’t be assholes, but we will give you an honest assessment of what we saw go wrong and right over the election campaign and over the past four years. If you are serious about remaining as party leader, you need to talk to those who are serious about the party.
Now I must leave, for I must ready for my Disney Land date with the waitress who served me dinner on Friday night
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Posted in Politics - Ontario, Conservative Party at 11:57 am by Matt, proud member of the Blogging Tories
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Sitting here in my hotel room in Los Angeles, I can’t help but be puzzled about the vote on John Tory’s leadership. A somewhat worrisome number of 67% voted for him.
Now, to clear up my position - I’m not exactly for or against Tory staying on as leader. However, asked which way I’ve been leaning, I’d have to say I was leaning towards holding a leadership contest.
The reason I call the support measurement ‘worrisome’ is because of the uncertainty it brings. I was hoping for either a clear show of support (85%+) or a clear show of disgruntlement (55%-). This two thirds figure leaves us somewhere in the middle, albeit closer to the lower figure.
Can Tory stay on as party leader, as he has pledged to do? Absolutely. However, he will have his work cut out for him.
Right now, John Tory has to do several things. First, he must explicitly describe how a leadership contest is going to drain the party of finances it just doesn’t have. Second, he is going to have to take some very conservative positions on the subjects that will pop up during the next few months, and stick with them. It’s not enough to oppose Dalton McGuinty on every policy, then run on a platform that could be passed off as his. Third, he has to start listening to party members. I cannot stress that enough.
Finally, he might also want to find a way to get a seat in the legislature.
Although JT has come out and said he will be staying on as the leader of the party, this is by no means a sure thing. It won’t necessarily be up to him. I haven’t been paying the closest attention, but I’ve heard from several people in several ridings that delegate selection meetings were often announced in the quietest of ways, the allegation being to suppress vocal dissent within the grassroots ranks.
That said, I do not think that Tory’s announcement that he will stay on as leader is a sure thing. The pressure on him to resign could very well strengthen in intensity now that the mediocre support has been measured. I think there is a very real possibility he may be forced to participate in a leadership contest.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 6:08 am by Matt, proud member of the Blogging Tories
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57 men thrown into a Saudi jail for the lewd act of flirting with women are now being interrogated. If they can prove they did not flirt, they “could” be released.
The newspaper report said the men who were arrested could be released if they could prove they did not flirt with any women. Otherwise, they will be transferred to court and stand trial, the paper added.
Guilty until proven innocent!
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02.20.08
Posted in Crime And Punishment at 5:11 pm by Matt, proud member of the Blogging Tories
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A 70 year old Iranian man is whipped, thrown into jail for the ‘disguisting’ crime of walking his dog. No word yet on Fido’s punishment.
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