Oh look, the Dimmycrats is Writin' to me Agin! LOL!!

----- Original Message -----
From: Brad Woodhouse, Democrats.org
To: HotFlash
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2011 1:02 PM
Subject: Birther nonsense


HotFlash --

When one-time Republican frontrunner Donald Trump dropped out of the presidential race, I thought we were done with all this birther nonsense.

But I guess right-wing conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi finally got to prove a Democrat wrong. Corsi just released his latest book, called -- wait for it -- Where's the Birth Certificate?

Fortunately, the Obama campaign knows just how to handle things like this: Treat them like the joke they are. That's why I wanted to be sure you saw the campaign's email from yesterday offering "Made in the USA" mugs with the President's birth certificate. You can get yours here:

https://my.democrats.org/USA-Made-Mug

Thanks,

Brad

--------- (my response)-----------------

Brad -- (may I call you Brad -- ?)

I don't give a damn about the birth certificate. The Constitution says "natural-born American", which, unlike "natural-born citizen", does not actually have a legal definition. I take it to preclude C-sections, although I think that's not fair. But WRT Obama, what I want to see is the *change* that I voted for, OK? We are still in Iraq, still in Afghanistan, now in Libya and apparently oozing on over to Pakistan; workers and wages are being attacked; the DOJ is still sitting on its hands re criminal investigations let alone prosecutions of seriously smelly bankers, economists, FBI directors, previous Presidents and VP's; Obama's 'health care' is a joke that will set back *real* health care by decades; SSI, Medicare and Medicaid are under attack -- you know the drill. So, you want me to buy a frickin' MUG!!??1!!!

And then you tell me that "Fortunately, the Obama campaign knows just how to handle things like this" and I say "fortunately the ... WTF??? 'campaign'?" Are you doing fund-raising here?

Please, please, consult a mental health professional soon! You are not in touch with reality (ie, not correctly interpreting what you perceive) and not rational (ie, not connecting thoughts/ideas in a logical way). You may be dangerous to yourself and/or others. Personally, I am more worried about the others, since I am one of them, but I beg you to not underestimate the danger to your own security, happiness, and sanity. I say this as one who values all human life, well, most.

Regards,


HotFlash

Still here, apparently.

The world has not ended, so far as I can tell.

The Rapture? On my BIRTHDAY???!!??

(Sorry, it's an old picture) A group of people who self-identify as Christians has determined by their arcane but presumably unimpeachable methodology that May 21, 2011 is the day Christ will return to earth to judge the living and the dead. Really.

Damn. That's my birthday, so I guess I will have to open my pressies and eat my cake at breakfast. But, on the bright side, I can just run up my VISA until then!

We will need new ways to get information

Canadians are used to having reliable sources of information available to them, nearly always funded by the Government as a public service, eg, Statistics Canada, the CBC, various investigating and reporting bodies such as the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, Sisters in Spirit, etc. Under the Harper Government™, a lot more of those sources will be in jeopardy over the next four years, and may disappear entirely. So we'd better find and *fund* some alternatives.

Thinking and Thanking Green

Congratulations to all the Greens, and to us ordinary Canadians, too -- it's really exciting that Green Party leader Elizabeth May won her riding. I doubt that anyone will be able to hold Harper's feet to any fire, but I hope that her seat in the House of Commons will give her a bit closer view into what is happening/not happening in the Harper Govt. I expect even less info to get out now about what he is doing under the radar (he is a master at that). I will be checking the Green Party website, esp the Shadow Cabinet page, in the hope that they will keep us apprised of impending disasters, so we can at scream, blog, write letters, demonstrate and maybe even find more effective ways of keeping the damage to a minimum *and* making alliances and friendships that we can count on in four years.

I am guessing that the Green votes were too few for federal funding for elections next time. My thought is that we will have to pony up to keep the Green Party alive in the coming four years. I know that I and a lot of my friends might have voted Green 'cept we were scared of Conservatives -- or, in our riding, Liberals, who have behaved as Conservative-lite. I am suggesting to them, and to you and to anyone, that if they had wanted to vote Green, or even if they wouldn't have, if they agree with what the Green Party stands for and think that it is a vital voice in Canada, that they chuck in $10 to $25 *per year* to the Green Party to help keep that Green shadow cabinet shadowing the Harper Government™.

Oh damn

A Conservative majority. There's a little good news, our NDP lady blew our Liberal MP out of the water, and the NDP will be the Loyal Opposition. They'll put up a better fight than the Liberals did, but Harper is really clever and stays under the radar, so most of his changes never go through Parliament.

Oh, and Green Party leader Elizabeth May won her seat. So, one Green in Parliament. It only takes one to propose stuff that would otherwise be left unsaid, I'm glad for her voice.

Ugly Business; I Must Confess

Excuse me, have I got this right? The President of the United States has publicly admitted to the extra-judicial assassination of a person who is not an enemy combatant since no war had been declared? For the sake of propriety, there should have at least been a show trial, al la Saddam Hussein. High fives all around, as a dual citizen I am an accessory to murder. I feel sick.

How to get to the *other* polls

Nerd alert, nerd alert! Election geek material!!!:

Simon Fraser Univ's Canadian Election Website
Simon Fraser U's survey of opinion polls (i *luv* polls!)
Too Close to Call -- Bryan Breguet talks opinion polls
Nanos Research
and Nik Nanos' Nick on the numbers
and this one looks really hot -- Milton Chan's Election Prediction Project

WOOHOO and pass the popcorn!

Canada needs every voter voting on May 2

Canada -- that's everyone who lives in this country, or ever has, or ever will, plus all our animals, birds, trees, rocks, mineral deposits, *everything* -- needs every Canadian voter to vote in this election. The issues are stark. Around here we are seeing posters that urge us to not vote. "Vote with your feet -- stay home on May 2" Really? The Conservatives will be totally down with that, it will favour them at the polls. And people, people, 'voting with your feet' does not mean staying home. It means getting out, as in leaving the country -- what *I* did in 1969 when I left the US of A. Sheesh! Staying home is voting with your ass.

So, vote on Monday, if you haven't already done so at the advance polls.

Here's how to do it, via Elections Canada: Ways to Vote. You will notice that you can register at the polls, just take ID.

Who to vote for? "Politicians all lie." Yeah, I suppose so. So look at their record and especially their party's record -- it ain't a sure thing, but it's the way to bet. You can use the CBC/Uof Toronto's Vote Compass to match your personal beliefs to a party's platform and history -- kind of like computer dating. Or you can find an issue that is important to you and look at your MP's voting record, or the record of the party of an untried candidate. You can find that at howdidtheyvote.ca

Then google around for the backstory. For instance, the Liberals were all keen on Bill C474, which would have made economic considerations, specifically exportability in the face of EU and other export markets rejection of GMO products, part of the criteria for approving GMO seeds. But they were strategically absent when the final vote came down and it lost by 3 votes -- more on the Bill C474 story here.

The Conservatives (so-called) are simply terrifying in their relentless drive to dismantle Canada, and they are careful about not leaving tracks, as per Senator Tommy Banks.

There's a Communist running, and a Christian Heritage guy, but neither of them speak to or for me, so I am ignoring them. Our perennial Marijuana Party candidate, Terry Parker is running, I love him at the all-candidates meetings and he actually makes sense, but I can't really vote for him this time, gotta be strategic.

My Green Party candidate seems to be MIA.

My Conservative candidate does not have a snowball's chance (whew!) so it is down to the NDP's Peggy Nash and the Liberals' Gerard Kennedy duking it out here in Highpark-Parkdale. Ouch! I'd say that's a win for Peggy, and the polls seem to agree.


So it looks like I can vote NDP. Hurray! I am basically OK with the NDP in general, actually got a match with them on the Vote Compass, although I think a long gun registry is a waste of time and I wish they were talking more about getting out of Afghanistan and now Libya -- my stars and garters, what are we *doing* *there*??? But still, it was an easy choice for me. I really, really like Peggy Nash. When she was our MP, every time I sat down to write her a letter, I'd find that she'd already spoken up about the issue, proposed a bill, led a delegation or was generally already on it.

Update: I voted in the advance poll on Apr 25 so now I'm just stocking in popcorn and will be reading the election liveblogging from CBC and slothropia, and, of course, urging everyone to vote.