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Welcome to Evilness
Wednesday, May 15 2024 @ 04:00 MDT

Home > Jason rambling

Horrible realization..

Thursday, December 04 2008 @ 09:44 MST

Contributed by: evilscientist

I came to a horrible realization on the way to work this morning. As someone who has spent a great deal of his adult life in Alberta I've become accustomed to the Conservative M.O. when it comes to destroying public institutions. The formula is actually quite simple, formulate a crisis in the institution, blame the opposition and the institution for the crisis, then take steps to dismantle the institution. Now this isn't the realization, as I've seen and known this for years. The realization is about something way more sinister, and it deals with the current happenings in Ottawa.

Harper channeling Sarah Palin

Thursday, December 04 2008 @ 07:00 MST

Contributed by: evilscientist

Harper in the House of Commons yesterday:
" If the hon. member wants a vote, let the people of her riding and the people loyal to this country right across this country vote for this country."
It would seem that Harper believes that anyone that doesn't vote for him doesn't like Canada. Kind of reminicent of Sarah Palin's "Real Americans" speech.

Conservative myth #5 - The coalition is an overturning of the October 14th election

Wednesday, December 03 2008 @ 06:34 MST

Contributed by: evilscientist

This myth is only valid if you don't understand our political system. In this instance, since Harper keeps repeating it ad nauseam, it really speaks to one of two possibilities. One, Harper himself doesn't understand our political system or two, Harper does understand the system but is knowingly lying to the Canadian people about it. Either possibility is not one that looks favourably on a Prime Minister.

Conservative myth #4 - The coalition takeover is a coup-de-etat

Wednesday, December 03 2008 @ 06:12 MST

Contributed by: evilscientist

This one is rich. Technically a coup-de-etat is an unconstitutional takeover, usually by violence, of a lawfully installed government. The Harper Tories have been trying to characterize their defeat and the takeover by the opposition as just such an unconstitutional takeover. This can only be seen in this way if you have no understanding of the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy or as I suspect is the case with the Harper Tories, you're just lying through your teeth.

Conservative myth #3 – The coalition government has no mandate to govern.

Wednesday, December 03 2008 @ 04:31 MST

Contributed by: evilscientist

This myth is pretty rich coming from a party that itself only garnered 37ish% of the vote. The mandate to govern is given to the party who can command the confidence of the House of Commons. In the past, this has been done by parties with artificial majorities, that is a majority of the seats in the Commons, but less than 50% of the popular vote. When it comes to a minority government however, who has a clear mandate becomes even less clear.

Conservative myth #2 – A minority defeat in the House is an automatic election

Wednesday, December 03 2008 @ 04:08 MST

Contributed by: evilscientist

Under the Westminster model, the party that is able to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons gets to form the government. This means that if a governing party loses the confidence of the house, the government must resign. Usually this results in an election since the remaining parties generally aren't in a cooperating mood. This isn't always the case though and it is not unheard of in the Canadian case or the Commonwealth Westminster case either, just rare.

Conservative myth #1 – A minority government has a mandate to govern unopposed

Wednesday, December 03 2008 @ 01:23 MST

Contributed by: evilscientist

With all the misinformation being put forward by the Harper Conservatives and the Conservative media, I thought it would be useful to counter some of the myths and lies with a little taste of reality. So in this first instalment, I will debunk the Conservative belief that being elected with a minority government gives a party the right to govern as if they had a majority.

Harper – Economic update - ??

Wednesday, December 03 2008 @ 10:48 MST

Contributed by: evilscientist

For those of you unfamiliar with chess notation, the double question mark “??” indicates a blunder. A blunder in chess is a hideous move that is likely to cost a player the game. That is what has happened to Harper and his government this week. In a cynical attempt to destroy the opposition and institute what could only be described as a thousand year Reich of Tory rule, Harper handed the opposition a chance to form the government. So much for the master tactician.

New poll here at Evilness

Wednesday, December 03 2008 @ 06:50 MST

Contributed by: evilscientist

A new poll here at Evilness. Do you support the formation of a coalition government to replace the Harper Conservatives? The poll is on the right sidebar. If you can't see it, click here.