Tuesday, September 15, 2009

So, which party is supposed to be in bed with the Seperatists?

Now, for the record I personally don't have any problem getting votes from the Bloc. they are in Parliament whether we like it or not and they have to be dealt with, it'd be childish to ignore them.

But I just think it's funny that the party that rails on and on about how evil the Liberals are for agreeing to cooperate with the Bloc is now being propped up by them.

It sucks in a way too though, because I was really liking the idea of Jack Layton trying to explain propping up the Conservatives to his base.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Eyewitness Account of the Massacre at Baharestan Square, Iran.

This is a rush transcript done by me, some of the words I don't know how to spell so I put the (sp?) tag after them. Video below.

Ivan: Can you tell us what you saw today when you tried to go to Baharestan Square?

Caller: Yes, it was uh, 5:30, I was going uh towards uh Baharestan with my friends, and uh this was everyone not only just supporters of one candidate the other, eh everyone all of my friends we were going to Baharestan to express our opposition to these killings these days and demanding freedom, uh, but uh the black uh clad police, they stop everyone at sadi(sp?) they let uh, they en, they um uh emptied the busses, uh, that were taking people there and let the private cars go on and uh we went on until faredosee(sp?) and then all of a sudden some 500 people with clubs and woods they uh came out of hidayan(sp?) mosque and they pulled into the streets and they uh started beating everyone and they they uh, they tried to beat everyone on sadi(sp?) bridge and um throwing them off of the bridge and...

Ivan: This is a pedestrian bridge?

Caller: Yes, a pedestrian bridge and everyone also on the sidewalks they beat a woman so savagely that uh, she was a drenched in blood. her husband who was watching the scene he just fainted and um I also saw people shooting uh, i mean the the security forces shooting on people on lawlezar(sp?) and uh at first people were brave that booed the security forces but they were beating people like Hell, this was a massacre. They were trying to beat people so that they would die. They were cursing, saying very bad words to everyone. they were beating old men and this was a ... this was exactly a massacre. You should stop this! You should stop this! You should help the people of Iran who demand freedom!

Ivan: Um, uh,

Caller: You should help us!

Ivan: I uh ... how many of you were there in this terrible situation?

Caller: There were thousands of people on, on the street but it was me and 10 of my friends.

Ivan: And, and you said they the security forces were shooting at the people, did you see anybody injured by gunfire?

Caller: No, as I explained earlier, I didn't see mysel, I heard the shooting and my friends and I we just scat-tered uh, we heard the shooting near lalizar(sp?) and we were near there and we just ran away. I didn't see again what happened, I'm sure people are dead there but i couldn't see, I couldn't catch the film or anything.

Ivan: Um, my dear this is this is really terrifying to hear and we're not only getting this report from you, we're got a report from another source in Tehran, describing the situation today being terrible. Uh saying people were being shot like animals, they beat the people like animals are you safe right now?

Caller: Yes, exactly, exactly, exactly this is what, what's happening they beat people so bad. You know in, in the previous days they are killing students with axe you know they, they put the axe through the heart of young men and it's so, em ... devastating! I don't know how to describe it I can't find the words, but this is horrific! This is genocide! This is a massacre! This is HITLER! And you should, you people should stop it! I mean it's, long time we have been exposed to this and nobody takes action! It's time to act!

Ivan: Um, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. Um, I want to make sure that that you don't get in to trouble for talking to us this way, and, and thank you for your bravery in sharing this with you, I know this situation is uh, is terrifying on the streets of Tehran today.

Caller: Ok, thank you.

Ivan: Ok, stay with us, I'm gonna pass back to Tony now. Uh, a harrowing account from a young woman, ah, telling us about what's going on ah, just a few hours ago in downtown Tehran. Tony?
Tony: Look um, Ivan appreciate it and uh, ah I know you're still talking to sources. Uh, we need to take a, a deep breath and consider what we've heard here, let's do that, Let's take a break, we're back with more CNN newsroom in just a moment.



Update: Videos alleged to be from Baharestan Square
(Warning: Graphic!)

Video 1
Video 2

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Iran: How You Can Help

First, get informed on the situation.

http://monitter.com/ is a real time Twitter Tracker that is currently set on the #IranElection, #Tehran, and #Mousavi hashes. It updates automatically so you don't have to keep refreshing.

Alternatively, you can use twitter's search page.
Searching for a hashtag will show all recent posts under that tag.



Contact the Canadian Government and ask them to allow wounded protesters in to our embassy for medical help and treatment.

Find your MP By Postal Code

Prime Minister Harper
Email: pm@pm.gc.ca
Phone: 613-992-4211
Fax: 613-941-6900

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon
Email: CannoL@parl.gc.ca
Phone: 613-992-5516
Fax : 613-992-6802

Canadian Embassy in Iran
Email : tehran@international.gc.ca



Cyberwar guide for the Iran elections - A Guide to helping the Iranian Protesters on the internet.

If you have any other ideas or suggestions, or links to articles showing how people can help please post them in the comments.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

And Now, Something I Thought I'd Never Say...

...I agree with Warren Kinsella.

Of course, I also agree that we won't get an election, as Jack Layton will no doubt prove what I've always known, he doesn't care about Canadians.

Stash: Oh wow? There's a massive recession and the government isn't handling it properly? Well, we should defeat them and have an election then, lets just take a look at the old poll numbers. What? DOWN since the last election? Why the Government is doing a fine job, with our help of course, no need to defeat them now.

He's Already Lowering Expectations

That didn't take long.

Balanced Budget Will Be Tough: Dexter

There was a party leader in this election, I can't remember who it was who made a point of pointing out how unrealistic the NDP's platform of promising the moon whilst still being able to deliver a balanced budget was. If only I could remember his name.

Oh well, I'm sure it'll come to me.

Now of course my Orange haired friends will be quick to point out that Dextey isn't saying he's not going to balance the budget, to which I say: Wait a while.

The Hopes Counter

Well, I had my hopes, let's see how many of them came true and how many didn't last night.


- I hope that we can hold the NDP to a minority.
Nope, came up 5 seats short of averting disaster.

- I hope the Liberals increase their seat count.
Yup, up by 2.

- I hope the Liberals can at least get official opposition.
By the skin of their teeth. Do teeth have skin?

- I hope the Liberals hold on to the two seats we currently have in Metro Halifax.
Shockingly yes, we did, and gained 2 as well!

- I hope we can take my home riding Dartmouth East, the guy running there is named Andrew Younger and he's a great city councilor, not to mention he chose the best party to run for.
YES!!! This was by far the biggest surprise for me last night and it was a pleasant one! Go Andrew Go!

- I hope we can win the riding I currently live in Halifax-Sable Island. (Can the Sable Island horses vote?)

Nope, lost it by a country mile. (Although if those Sable Island Horses would have been able to vote we would have had it cuz they're all Liberal)

- I hope Stephen McNeil wins his seat.
It was close, he only got 73.32 percent of the vote.

- I hope Premier MacDonald wins his seat. (unless it's the Liberals who win it from him.)
Check, although now I hope he quits and we can win it in a By-Election.

- I hope Paula Lunn wins Hants West. (I lived there for 7 months after a fire destroyed my home)
Nope, lost in a close one again.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

It's Official

My home riding has gone Red.

Andrew Younger has shocked the world and become the only person to unseat an NDP tonight.

It sucks to lose my home Province to the Orange Menace, but it's fantastic that the soil upon which I grew up will be Liberal Red, part of the loyal opposition to this terrible, terrible government.

Joan Jessome, head of a huge union now on CBC bullshitting that the NDP won't be paying her and her friends back handsomely.

Enjoy your bought and paid for government Joaney.

Looks like Paula Lunn got beat

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Current Standings

Hard to crack that old Tory stronghold, still it's nice to see the NDP finish 3rd somewhere.

Anyway, that wraps up my live blogging. I hope you all enjoyed it, I'll be back later or perhaps tomorrow with a wrap up.

CTV Predicting a Liberal Opposition

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Current Standings

YES! At least we'll get the extra funding and be able to effectively hold this terrible government's feet to the flames.

Go Stephen McNeil Go.

What a Scumbag

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Current Standings

Fuckin Darrell Dexter comes out to speak before Stephen McNeil was done his speech.

His first act as Premier-Designate and it's a classless one. I guess I'll have to get used to that.

Liberal Andrew Younger Leading by 140 with 1 poll left!!!

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Current Standings

Oh my god! If my home riding bucks the wave of Orange Ignorance and goes red I'll be so happy on this most terrible night!

New (Hopefully) Leader of the Opposition Stephen McNeil is now Speaking

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Current Standings

Kind of a long introduction.

(Fromer) Premier MacDonald Speaking Now

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Current Standings

Bye Bye Fiddler, one small, tiny, minute bit of good news is that we'll be rid of this fool.

Diana Whalen Elected: CTV Projects

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Current Standings

Awesome, so we're holding and pushing the NDP back in some places in Metro Halifax, better than I could have hoped but it's still early in some other places.

Close

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Current Standings

Stephen McNeil only won by 4700 votes. :D

Hey, when your Province goes down the shitter you gotta look at the positives.

More Good Preliminary News

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Current Standings

Diana Whalen is currently leading so maybe we can keep some good talent in Province house.

WHOA!

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Current Standings

My home riding is the one that flipped from the NDP Earlier! This would be HUGE if we could get this back from the Dippers.

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEAS GOD, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE! Just throw me this bone!

Woo! Into 2nd place

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Current Standings

And we took it from the NDP. Nice!

Gotta Love Uninformed Voters

People are posting on CTV saying they voted NDP because they didn't like how Rodney McDonald acted.

Heh, they just read my Email on CTV. :D

Some Good News

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Current Standings

We kept the NDP from Sweeping Metro HRM, nice job Kelly Regan!

A Dark Day

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Current Standings

Don't Know How Much More of this I Can Watch. They've got Maureen McDonald up on CBC now, who's just slightly left of Stalin.

We Keep Flippin

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Current Standings

Between 2nd and 3rd. God if we finish 3rd again.

Looks like my home riding is going orange too

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Current Standings

What a terrible day in Nova Scotia history.

NDP Majority: CBC Projects

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Current Standings

Shoot me.

Woo Hoo! We're tied!

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Current Standings

I wonder what happens if we tie with the Tories, do they get Opposition because they were higher before?

Now it's a Race for Official Opposition.

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Current Standings

Right now we're 1 behind.

NDP Majority: CTV Projects

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Current Standings

Prepare for a mass exodus of sane people from our Province.

NDP Leading and Elected at Majority

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Current Standings

Sometimes when you give people a choice they make the wrong one. Sad.

Some Good News

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Current Standings

Nice to see the Greens only at 2%. That's 2% too much but still, it's niiiiice and low.

2 Away From disaster now

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Current Standings

Anyone know any good neighborhoods in Vancouver?

We're startin to creep up a bit

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Current Standings

Only 2 behind the Tories now.

It's Funny

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Current Standings

How even with the sound off and no graphic showing who it is I can tell if it's a Dipper because they look like a nerdy bible salesman.

8 Seats Still to Come

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Current Standings

Been stuck in this range for a while, I guess some people don't know how to count.

CTV Projects: Premier Rodney McDonald keeps his Seat

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Current Standings

Not that surprising.

Well, at least our leader is safe

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Current Standings

He's only leading by like 400 539 to like 73.

4 Away from disaster

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Current Standings

I think our plane is about to crash.

Witch McDounough now on CTV

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Current Standings

Hope she enjoys being an agent of the destruction of her home province.

Wow

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Current Standings

We're doing much worse than I anticipated so far, only 5 leading and elected.

9 Away from Disaster

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Current Standings

It's like counting down to an explosion.

My home riding is NDP so far

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Current Standings

Not surprised, but disappointed.

Inching closer to disaster.

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Current Standings

NDP now up to 84% chance of a majority according to CTV now.

Here it comes

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Current Standings

Now the NDP are startin to take off. up to 10 now, 17 away from disaster.

Yuck

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Current Standings

Alexa McDonough is on CBC right now. Someone pass me the barf bag.

Bah

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Current Standings

Of course, as soon as I speak up they show up on the board.

10 Minutes in and the NDP are shut out!!!

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Yeah, I know. It's not going to last. But still it's nice while it
lasts. :D

Current Standings

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Leading/Elected
NDP 31
Liberal 11
PC 10

0/52 to come.
27 Needed for Majority

CTV Projects NDP Win already.

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CTV Projection
NDP 24-33 Seats
Liberal 8-16
PC 7-16

27/52 Needed for Majority.

CTV Projects 81% chance of NDP Majority.

*sigh*

Polls are now closed

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Polls close in 10 minutes

And so I'm enjoying the last 10 minutes of my Province not being run by the Orange Menace.

Pray for me.

Comments Now Open to All

For election night I'm making commenting a little easier by opening it up to anyone, so regardless of whether you have a Blogger account or not you'll be able to comment.

What the Hell?

I just saw an NDP commercial, I didn't think you were allowed to campaign on election day.

In any event I fired off an email to Elections Nova Scotia to check on it. It'd be a nice consolation prize if I could get the NDP fined. (and it was on CTV Atlantic too so that'd be a double bonus)

Here's Optimism For Ya



Nova Scotians desperate to keep the NDP out of power line up down the street to vote Liberal.

Hopes for the NS Election

As is customary for me, I'm going to post my hopes for tonight's election, then after the results are in I make another post in which I show how my hopes turned out.

9:53am Hopes
- I hope that we can hold the NDP to a minority.
- I hope the Liberals increase their seat count.
- I hope the Liberals can at least get official opposition.
- I hope the Liberals hold on to the two seats we currently have in Metro Halifax.
- I hope we can take my home riding Dartmouth East, the guy running there is named Andrew Younger and he's a great city councilor, not to mention he chose the best party to run for.
- I hope we can win the riding I currently live in Halifax-Sable Island. (Can the Sable Island horses vote?)
- I hope Stephen McNeil wins his seat.
- I hope Premier MacDonald wins his seat. (unless it's the Liberals who win it from him.)
- I hope Paula Lunn wins Hants West. (I lived there for 7 months after a fire destroyed my home)

Live Blogging the Nova Scotia Election

Hey everyone, I'll be live blogging the Nova Scotia election tonight, that's of course when I'm not praying to God we can hold the Orange Menace to a minority.

So join me here when the polls close for thoughts and analysis from me, as well as comments being opened up for all (i.e. you won't need a blogger account) for one night only. (spam will still be deleted quickly so don't bother)

The times are as follows.
Greenwich Mean Time -> 10pm
Newfoundland Time -> 7:30pm
Atlantic Time -> 7:00pm
Eastern Time -> 6:00pm
Central Time -> 5:00pm
Mountain Time -> 4:00pm
Pacific Time-> 3:00pm

Don't Forget to Vote

I would just like to remind all my fellow Nova Scotians to vote today no matter who you vote for. I may not like the result, but I love the process.

P.S. if ya can, vote Liberal :D

Monday, June 08, 2009

Raitt Tapes Can Be Released: NS Supreme Court

Just saw on Newsworld that the Raitt Tapes can be released.

Muahahahahahaha Harper.

Stephen Harper Should Work For Memorex



Another Conservative tape? ANOTHER ONE?!?!

First we had DJ Gurmant Grewal layin down his phat tracks of Liberals allegedly (and falsely as I knew it would turn out) trying to bribe him to switch sides *cough* Davidemersonchuckcadman *cough* Sorry about that, must be my allergies.

Then we had them sleaze their way on to Moustache's conference call during the 2008 Constitutional Crisis.

And now we have tapes of Harper's Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt saying stuff she wasn't supposed to.

Stephen Harper should work for Memorex.

Yet Another Reason I'll Never vote Green

As if I didn't have enough of them already, now here in the Nova Scotia election we've got a Green Party candidate advocating closing small ERs in favor of family doctors and walk in clinics.

While I'm all for the latter, the former is yet another pathetic idea from a pathetic excuse for a party. These aren't just numbers we're dealing with here, they're people's lives. The saddest thing of all is this candidate is a doctor! In serious cases such as heart attacks the first hour is critical, do you really want someone you love to have to ride 30-45 minutes of that first hour just to get to a hospital? Not to mention the time it takes for our severely underfunded ambulance system to get to them.

We need MORE ERs, not less. If the ones we have are too big and bulky I have no problem with reducing their size to more accurately meet the needs of the communities they service, but closing them altogether leaves zero options on the table if people need help or God forbid a disaster strikes.

As for the walk in clinic option, people don't just have problems 9-5. It'd be nice if that was the case.

Fellow Liberals, Prey for us Here in Nova Scotia



With the latest poll released on Thursday showing the NDP here at 47% to our 26% and the PC's 23% I've obviously been looking for a way to escape the Province before Premier *gag* Dexter shuts down all inter-provincial travel.

This has been something I've long dreaded ever since the 1998 election where the NDP came razor close to forming a government. But never did I think things would get so bad. 47%?!?! are you people on crack or something? I mean I know Ronald Rodney MacDonald did a piss poor job but when there's a cliff up ahead the answer isn't to jam your foot down on the gas!

What's worse is everyone I know, save my loyal family, has gotten a bad case of The Orange Plague. I go on Facebook and post my hatred for the Orange Menace and dear friends reply back to me with the same old idiocy: 'Oh just let them in, let's see what they can do." One Dipper candidate is posting his journey on Daily Kos and said he tells people at the doorstep "If you don't like us you can give us the boot in 4 years!" to which I say: Well that's certainly reasonable, I mean after all they can't do much damage in 4 years right? Just look at Bob Rae in Ontario... Ok, that's a bad example. But what about George W. Bush's first term, that was 4 years right? Ok, that was a worse example.

It's the day before election day and these are the only hopes I have left.

- Maybe enough people will snap the fuck out of it and vote Liberal (and yes, even PC) to keep them to a minority.

- A local indi newspaper here in Halifax called The Coast wrote a front page article entitled Who is Premier Darrell Dexter. Yes, that's right they called him Premier before he even gets elected. So I'm hoping that might keep a lot of young people who'd normally support the NDP home on election day thinking they've got it sewn up.

- Maybe the pollsters were drunk when they made their calls.

- Perhaps a giant octopus will rise from Halifax Harbour and swallow NDP Headquarters whole on election night.

Anyway, to my fellow Liberals currently enjoying the governments in BC, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and PEI... prey for us here in wayward Nova Scotia.

P.S. anyone in the above mentioned provinces got a couch I can crash on for the next 4-5 years?

It's not like it'll make a difference anyway

So I hear that Iggy has decreed that the Liberals will be supporting bill C-15, otherwise known as the Harper Draconian Crime Bill. The common reason given is that the Liberals don't want the Conservatives to be able to accuse them of being soft on crime in the next election.

See, the problem with that theory is the party leaders still don't seem to understand the nature of our enemy. See, to a hard core Conservative the truth doesn't actually mean anything, as exampled by Harper accusing us of colluding with separatists when a few days later a letter with his signature on it surfaced which showed he tried to do the exact same thing to Prime Minister Martin.

What I'm saying is, the Conservatives will accuse us of being soft on crime if it gets them more votes regardless of whether it's actually true or not. (which of course it isn't) So why don't we just stand up for our principles and vote down this ridiculous bill.