Occasionally Wright

Debate Scoop

I didn't vote in this week's Canadian election and I can't vote in next month's American election. I technically could have voted in the Canadian election via absentee ballot but you're supposed to be planning on returning to Canada to live. Who am I kidding? That's not happening any time soon. Yes, I could have lied, but it wasn't worth it just to vote in an election that had little significance to me.

It is odd though to not be voting in either election.

I remember the last time I was living in this country for two elections. November 2000. Americans voted, Canadians had an election a week or two later, Canadians go their election results that night, and two months later Bush was declared the winner thanks to whatever happened in Florida.

Before that election I went to one of the presidential debates which happened to be at Wake Forest where I was going to grad school.

Now my former professor's name is all over the place. He was a debate expert back then and he's still one now, but the internet is a bigger deal now than it was then, so he's blogging about the debates as one of the founders and writers at Debate Scoop. I probably should have linked to it before the last debate, but it's still worth reading and it isn't blatantly partisan like pretty much every other site. Dr Louden is good that way. Yes, I still call him Dr. Louden, even though I lived with the man for a few months. Here's a nice feature on him if you want some background.

Friends Waiting For News From Burma

It boggles my mind that the government of Burma/Myanmar still isn't allowing much-needed aid into the country, and while disasters like this halfway around the world are usually pretty faceless, this one is hitting home.

Ruth and Aung Lawt are two of my mother;s best friends back home. She babysat their first two children and she occasionally takes care of them. They moved to PEI nine years ago and both of them are originally from Burma. Aung runs the sushi stand at the Superstore on University Avenue. Ruth runs the Monsoon tea room downtown. Both of their families live in Rangoon and neither one of them has been able to get in touch with any of their relatives. Aung would probably go back and try to find them himself if he was allowed back in the country. He's a former political prisoner though and can't go back without risking his life.

If there was an easy way to get aid into Burma I'd plead with you to do so, but as it stands the only way I can think of to help these people right now is to support Monsoon.Knowing Ruth and Aung they'll do everything they can to help their families when they get word form Burma. If you're looking for a good lunch in Charlottetown this week feel free to stop by Monsoon and show some support for this incredible family. The restaurant is at 79 University Ave.

Obama's Face Shows Up In An Odd Place

As far as I know nobody else is talking about this (aside from a very brief thread on the Thrashers' message boards).

So can someone explain to me why the Obama campaign is advertising on the site of an NHL team? That in itself is odd enough as don't imagine many sports teams would risk alienating their fanbase by taking money from one candidate and thereby showing tacit support for that candidate and party. But what's really odd is that the team is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Are there that many ex-pats living in Toronto that the Obama camp thinks it's worth their while? It's a big ad and it's in a prime location on the site so I don't imagine it came cheaply.

I first saw it more than 24 hours ago and I'm still scratching my head over it, so if anyone has any thoughts please chime in. And do campaign advertising/spending rules apply to advertisements outside of the US?

Snowed Out

According to CNN's sources White house Press Secretary Tony Snow is going to step down within the next month for financial reasons.

It's relatively early on a Saturday morning, so I'm not inclined to do much research, but I'd love to know how many press secretaries George W has gone through and how that number stacks up to previous presidents. It seems like there's a change every 18 months or so.

Paul Martin, Former PM

I suppose the election doesn't really have that much of an impact on me, seeing as I don't know if or when I'll be living in Canada again, but there's something great about going to be knowing that for all intents and purposes, Paul Martin's political career is over. Sure, he's still an MP, but he's a lameduck MP in a minority party that nobody's going to want to listen to. He's just going to be that crazy old guy sitting in the corner saying "back when I was Prime Minister..." Does anybody ever listen to that guy?

Paul Martin, the new Kelley Hrudey of Canadian politics. That analogy works, doesn't it?

Who's next in line for the Liberals? Any guesses? Wagers? Conjectures?

On First Reading...

I love ambiguous headlines. Canoe.ca posted this article with the the headline "Layton: NDP will stop steamrolling Tories." I clicked on it thinking, 'Oh, Layton is going to go easy on the Tories for the last day of the campaign so the two parties can take out the Liberals. He's going to stop steamriolling them.'

Nope. Apparently the Tories are steamrolling across the country and Layton and the NDP think they can stop them. I guess that's why you have to actually read the articles, huh? Happy electioning to all of you up north (good word, eh? You can use it tomorrow if you want). I'll be checking the results from the Hawks/Pacers game.

Not Missing Much

I just opened the leaders debate in a browser and after 5 seconds I knew I couldn't vote for Martin if I were voting. First there was his tone of voice. Then there was the phrase- "no one left behind." Visions of George Bush jumped into my head instantly, and that's not really a good thing.

Harper said nothing good or bad, just pointed out the obvious- the government is corrupt aand still under investigation for being corrupt, so why would you re-elect them?

Layton plays the third party card and Duceppe backs him up on it, painting the Conservatives and Liberals with the same brush. And this is the end? I listened to 3 minutes and barely stayed awake. I sure hope I missed all the good bits, because those closings were awful.

No wonder I don't feel inclined to vote.

Opting Out

After a great deal of thought I have decided not to vote in the upcoming Canadian federal election. If I were in the country I would, but it's hard to care when I don't plan to live in Canada any time soon. On top of that, there's nobody that has caught my attention at the local level that I'd actually want to vote for. As much as I dislike the Liberals, would I really want to vote for the VP of the Monarchist League in my old riding?

So I wish all of you that plan to vote against the Liberaqls (or for someone other than the Liberals if you'd rather phrase it that way) the best, but I'm waiving my right to help you out. Good luck folks.

Where Do I Live Again?

If you could vote anywhere in Canada, where would you vote? I'm curious because under the guidelines posted on the Elections Canada website someone living abroad can determine their riding by listing the address of someone they may live with if they were residing in Canada. Not a place they have lived, but I place they might decide they might want to live if they returned to Canada:

"If you are a Canadian resident, give your permanent home address in Canada.

If you are now residing outside Canada, give your last home address in Canada, or the current home address in Canada of your spouse or common-law partner; or that of a relative of yourself, your spouse or your common-law partner; or that of a person in relation to whom you are a dependant; or that of a person with whom you would live if you were not residing outside Canada."

So I wonder where I'd live. Do I know anyone in Iqaluit? Moosejaw? Come By Chance?

Ezra Strikes Again

Last week I mentioned that my cousin had won the Tory nomination to run in the riding of Halifax once a federal election is finally called. I also mentioned that some news outlets were going out of their way to point out that candidates with Christian ties seem to be popping up in the Conservative party and that this is a very Bad Thing.

Yesterday Ezra Levant struck back with what I consider to be a very poignant argument. He's hardly the first person to make it but he does a great job of highlighting the problem. His basic point- if you replace the word Christian with Jew or Muslim (or gay, black, First Nation or any other minority for that matter) the Globe and Mail column from Friday becomes unfit for print. So what makes it acceptable to demonize Christians?