I don’t want to make a big deal out of this, but I figured I’d let folks know that we have gone our separate ways. Have agreed to be friends, etc. All of that. But, after nearly six great years, it’s time to move on. And that’s all I’m going to be saying about it.
It is an election year and, accordingly, folks are already asking me about banner advertising on this here web site.
Last time, the Libs got to it first. This time, who knows? First come, first served.
Marijuana Party of Canada, this could be your lucky day!
From that Ivison column Grits are passing around:
Those are all direct quotes.
Now, blinders-wearing Grits will attack John’s opinion column, natch. But having been an aspiring columnist for some time, I can say that John is merely doing what a columnist is supposed to do – being skeptical, being tough on all sides, being anything but predictable. That’s the job.
And, by the by, he’s right about quite a few things. The verbal missteps; the vicious expulsion of Liberal Senators; the diktats about how candidates and MPs should think; the confusing and calamitous decisions on ISIS and C-51; the farce that is the “open nominations” promise: it goes on and on, unfortunately.
Does Trudeau need to make some staff changes before the election? I’ve thought that for some time. Does he need to get some policy in the window, given the suspicion that voters have about his intellect? For sure. Does he need to stop trying to tell jokes, and look and sound more Prime Ministerial? Yes, yes and yes. All that.
I still believe he can become Prime Minister, short or long term. I still believe he has done extraordinary things for the Liberal Party’s organizational and fundraising strength. I still believe that most Canadians self-identify as Liberal or liberal.
But Justin Trudeau is now slipping downward towards the twenties, and that’s Ignatieff and Dion territory. And we all know how that turned out.
Smarten up, Justin. You only get one chance to make a first impression.
Driving in with Son Two, Arcade Fire’s ‘Ready to Start’ comes on. I personally think Arcade Fire are insufferably pretentious/precious, and Win Butler makes Billy Corgan seem shy and retiring. But this remains a great pop song, and that line in the middle corresponds to my view of quite a bit of politics, these days.
All the kids have always known
That the emperor wears no clothes
But they bow down to him anyway
Just as the Cons make use of their leader’s artistic expression to fundraise, so too do the Libs, now.
Stick to your day jobs, fellas. If this keeps up, Tom Mulcair will start belting out show tunes in Question Period.
Ladurantaye, this blue-check legit?
Quote:
Authorities are trying to determine whether Andreas Lubitz’s relationship difficulties with his girlfriend played a role in his apparent decision to initiate the descent into the mountainside, taking 149 passengers and crew to their deaths on Germanwings Flight 9525, the newspaper reported.
The first officer, who had a history of mental illness, had to repeat some stages of flight school because of depression and was occasionally listed as “unfit to fly” during his training in Arizona, Bild said.
Over the years, I’ve had too many friends whose depression spiralled downward into suicide and self-harm. At Bishop Carroll, two artistic, sensitive members of our 531 Club killed themselves in 1977. Periodically, I Google their names, hoping to find some evidence that the world remembers them in some way.
And, in the intervening years, I’ve had other friends and colleagues who did self-harm. In the punk scene, in fact, it was pretty common to see evidence of people burning cigarettes into their arms, or slashing themselves with razor blades. I figured most of that was for shock value – the Germs elevated it to a trend with Circle One – but maybe I was wrong about that.
I’m no expert in depression, but I had always assumed that people suffering from it mostly harmed themselves, not others. If the early reports about Andreas Lubitz are true, however, that assumption is plainly wrong. Lubitz’s apparent act of suicide was also an act of homicide, on a massive scale.
Can anyone refer the rest of us to writings on this issue? It’s important, I think, because it may help answer the “why” that lingers over then tragedy of Flight 9525. It’s also important because I suspect we are going to now see measures to exclude people with depression from certain roles in society – like airline pilots.
And, comments are open, as always. Tread lightly, please.
How does bombing targets in Syria, without asking Syria for permission, and continuing to condemn Syria, make us an ally of Syria? #cdnpoIi
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) March 26, 2015
Opposing the Obama-led international coalition for whatever reason is one thing. But to actually suggest we have now somehow become allies of Syria’s despicable regime is, well, despicable.