Liberal Success in Calgary SW!

It seems we have a sudden surge in interest in Liberals in Alberta; positive, supportive interest, no less!

I don’t know what the cause has been.

Robocalls seemed to be sort of interesting but not motivating to action.

Hyper-partisanship verging on political hatism seemed to be just more of the same, hardly worthy of thought or comment.

Hyper-election spending much beyond the laws of the land seemed to be, “Yeah, that’s just politics isn’t it.”.

Senate scandal, “Well that’s what the senate is all about isn’t it?”.  No real biggie.

Alleged crooks working in the PMO and in various federal government agencies?  “Yeah well, they’re all crooks aren’t they.”  No biggie.

Silencing of our expert civil servants in the sciences and policy research arms of the government?  “Well those elitist smart alecs need to be brought down a peg or two.”

Diane Ablonczy will not be running again.  “Well, it has been 20 years and she seemed to not be one of Harper’s favourite people.  No biggie.”

Rob Ford and stuff?  “That’s Toronto.  What do you expect?”

Ted Menzies quit his parliamentary position to move to the private sector.  “Wait a minute!  Ted quit direct involvement in active politics with the CPC and Harper?!?!?  What the heck is that about?  He’s been a stalwart and shining light for the movement for a long time and was clearly elected on his own merits, not simply because he was supported by and supporting the CPC.”

That seems to have been the determining factor in having people say that enough is enough.  All that other stuff might be used as an excuse for abandoning the CPC but the real motivation to action was to follow a leader out the door.

Why do I say all this?

Well, I’m probably reading too much in this really minor incident, but here it is.

The Liberal EDA in Calgary SW, a riding presently represented by S. J. Harper, The Right Honourable Prime Minister of Canada, likes to struggle along like the little engine that could.  So an idea emerged some time ago to mark the Grey Cup Day celebration with a little Liberal gathering of fun and frolic and football.  If a few bucks were raised, great!

The idea was to have the event at Schanks, a local sports bar.  So in 2013 momentum was being built up for this event and the LPC officialdom dropped a bit of bad news on the good folks of the Calgary SW Liberal EDA, there is not enough interest to make this a breakeven proposition for the party so it has been cancelled until next year.  Officialdom held on to very late in the day to make this announcement in order to give the event all the chance it could get to succeed.

So some members decided to hold a less formal event that did not require any seed capital with the venue.  The event was then to be held at the Point and Feather pub.  Same idea but no formal ticket prices.  The tickets for the original event were really meant to cover the venue’s cover charge and would likely have made no or little positive difference to the party coffers in any case.  So at the Point and Feather, if members decided to make donations, great!  Those could be handled in the normal manner.

What do you know and 6 days before Grey Cup Day, there appeared to be a flurry of interest enough to have Liberal officialdom announce the event at Schanks was going to be held after all!

The timing of all this is such that I then had to wonder what triggered this newfound popularity among the good folks of Calgary SW.  Hence the above discussion and the realization was that the one truly significant factor must have been Ted Menzies’ resignation.

So Calgary SW Liberals now have to choose, Point and Feather without cover; or advance $45.00 per person through the Treasurer, Dawn Litzenberger to go to the event at Schanks!

Politically speaking, Schanks will reach more politically nonaligned people than the Point and Feather as the Point and Feather is smack dab in the middle of both federal and provincial electoral polls that tend to vote predominately Liberal.

Mike

Beer and Politics

Okay I must confess to drinking beer yesterday. No, no, that's not the issue, from a glass, that's the issue. 
"What's remarkable about that?", you might ask.

Well, it reminded me of social and traditional media on politics. So we see events happen day-by-day and they are duly reported. Good deal. That's the beer in the glass.

Then I thought of all the commentary in all media about or around or pretending to be related to the event and I am reminded of the head on the beer, more visible when the beer and its foam are in a glass.

Then I saw the little bubbles forming, rising into and through and finally bursting in the head of the beer.

And I thought I could hear, not little voices, but loud, angry sounding, roaring voices interpreting the meaning of personal, social and political life that was clearly demonstrated by the formation of each little bubble. 

Likewise for the movement of each little bubble. 

Likewise for the bursting of each little bubble.

One set of comments identified each new little bubble as the crystal clear answer to all and each of our challenges and problems. That set of voices proclaimed how that little bubble would save us all! 
Hurray!

Another set of comments identified each new little bubble as the certain doom of all mankind. That set of voices proclaimed how that little bubble would surely disable and disempower us all! 
Boo!

The commentary would then tell us that the movement of the little bubble in its rise to the top was clearly an indication of the correctness of the interpretation, no matter which it was.

The bursting of the little bubble would be proclaimed as a false promise that could not deliver.

The bursting of the little bubble would be proclaimed as evidence of the evil actions of the other side keeping us from realizing our potential.

The intensity of the voices and the urgency of the messages was truly life or death and intended to identify the reality of life to the end of time, permanent truths.

It turned out that the little bubble was just gas, highly flavoured gas, but just gas, almost no beer.

Anyway, I drank the beer, cleaned out the glass and thought, "Well, that was good beer, head and all."

Farm Sense - The Door

“Hi Andrew.  Nice day.”

Andrew: “Yeah, the weather is good, but the day is kind of stressful.”

“I see that.  What’re you doing?”

Andrew: “Closing the door.”

“I see.  Heard from your kids at school lately?”

Andrew: “Yup.  They seem to be getting along pretty well.  Mind you, sometimes I think I’m the last to know.  But, yeah, things seem okay with them.”

“What’re they taking again?  Mechanical Engineering and Medicine?”

Andrew: “Kenny’s in Medicine and Terry’s in Engineering.”

“Kenny’s the older?  I should remember that, I know, but I haven’t seen them in a while.  Maybe I haven’t had enough coffee yet today.”

Andrew: “It’s okay.  You remembered that correctly.”

“So are you going to be at this for a while?”

Andrew: “I don’t know how long this will take.  Probably a while though, from the look of it.”

“Would you like me to bring you a coffee?  What do you take in it?”

Andrew: “Thanks.  Just black is fine.”

“Here it is.  Hope you don’t mind, it’s a large.  I brought this little lawn table to set it on.”

Andrew: “Thank you.  I’ll get to it in a minute, before it cools you know.”

“How long you been at this?”

Andrew: “Started at about 6:00 I guess.”

“Crikey!  It’s 10:15!  So, if this takes a while longer, I’d like to help.”

Andrew: “No, actually the only way to make this work is for me to do this myself.  But thanks anyway.”

“Look, I’m taking a break today.  No one else is home.  I could use the company.  I’ll bring lunch, refrigerator surprise you know.  We have that table here, might as well use it.  That okay?”

Andrew: “Yeah, that’d be nice.  I expect to be here so, yeah that’d be nice.”

Meanwhile not too, too far away, there is another conversation underway.

Race: “Wow!  It is nice out here!  Been running, a lot.  Feels good to be out here in the sun.”

Saw: “Nice food here too.  You having some of this?  It’s really got a great green flavour.  You know what I mean?”

Race: “Yeah, I know that stuff is sorta addictive.  Too much gives me the trots though.  Not used to it anymore.”

Saw: “How long have you been out here?”

Race: “Since about sunrise I guess.”

Saw: “That’s pretty good.  Like it?”

Race: “Actually makes me kind of nervous, but yeah, it’s good.”

Saw: “I hardly ever see you.  How some you’re out here today?”

Race: “I got sorta scared, so I came here.”

Saw: “What scared you?”

Race: “I dunno, musta been something.”

Saw: “What happened?”

Race: “Hard to say.  It was just weird.”

Saw: “What was weird?”

Race: “The door was open.”

Saw: “What!  The door was open?  Why?”

Race: “I don’t know.  It’s almost never open.  I always figured the door was closed to keep things out and there it was, open.”

Saw: “Wonder what could be out here that would be so scary there should be a door to keep it out.”

Race: “Why’re you out here?  Aren’t you scared?”

Saw: “I get outside quite a lot.  Wasn’t scared until now.  All this talk has me upset.”

Race: “So, I wonder what might be out here to be scared of.”

Saw: “I dunno.  Hey, there’s Wild.  He seems to be out all the time.  Let’s ask him.  Hey!  Wild!  Can you come closer?  We need to ask you something.”

Wild: “I guess.  How are you guys?”

Saw: “I’m good.  You know, good.  I guess.”

Race: “Me too.  I guess.  How’re you?”

Wild: “Fine, really fine.  So what’d you guys want to ask?”

Saw: “Well, Wild, we were wondering about something.  Race here had the door open this morning and it made him nervous, afraid you know.”

Wild: “That so?”

Race: “Yeah.”

Wild: “Why nervous?  Why afraid?  I don’t like that place, but I figured, all the food you can eat, no big storms to worry about.  Might have its benefits.”

Race: “Yeah, that’s just it.  I don’t know.  I hardly ever get out here so I don’t know what there is out here.  Then I thought the door was to keep whatever is out here from getting in, so whatever is out here must be scary.”

Saw: “So, the all this talk from Race and he made me nervous, afraid, you know.”

Wild: “Actually I prefer it out here.  However, that does not mean there aren’t scary things out here.”

Race: “Like what?”

Wild: “Ever heard of cougars?  Bears, especially grizzlies?  Dogs?”

Saw: “Dogs?  I have dogs around and they don’t seem scary.”

Wild: “Well sometimes dogs in packs can be scary.”

Race: “So, Wild, you’re telling me I had reason to be scared.”

Wild: “Hadn’t really thought about it, but I suppose so, yeah.”

Saw: “So, what are you gonna do Race, go back in?”

Race: “Can’t really.  As long as that door is not closed, I can’t.  Too scary.  What if something comes in and I can’t get away?  Not worth the risk.”

Wild: “So what are you going to do about it?  How do you make sure the door is closed when it’s supposed to be?”

Race: “Well, I’ve got the man closing the door.  Had to get him to do that to teach him to keep the door closed.”

Wild: “How will you know when he’s learned to do that?”

Race: “Well, I’ll be in there and the door will be closed.”

Meanwhile back with Andrew

“Well, Andrew.  This has been a more interesting day than I was expecting.  Thank you.”

Andrew: “Really?  I’m afraid I thought you would think it’s kind of dull.”

“I do have a question.  How long do you think you should keep this up?”

Andrew: “No choice.  As long as it takes.”

“How will you know when you’re finished?”

Andrew: “Race will be inside and the door will be closed.”

“I see.  Where is Race anyway?”

Andrew: “Not sure exactly, but I think he’s in the paddock.  I think I saw him with Saw and Wild.  They’re not actually together.  The fences are separating them.”

“It seems to me closing that door as hard as you do is making an awful racket.  Do you think Race will come near here with that going on?”

Andrew: “No choice.  Gotta make a point.  Race has got to know I’m mighty unhappy with him going off like that.”

“I see.  So the door slamming is a sort of punishment for Race?”

Andrew: “Yup.  Gotta make sure he remembers.”

Meanwhile

Wild: “So Race, how long you gonna stay out here?”

Saw: “Yeah, I mean, Crikey!  You’re gonna have to go back in there through all that noise.  It’s not going to be easy to get through that.  And every time the door slams, it gets opened again and slammed again.”

Wild: “You could stay out here with me, but you’d have to get over that fence somehow.  Think you can do it?  I’m know, I don’t think I could.  But I’ve seen you jump over some pretty high stuff, and with that man on you.  Maybe you could.”

Race: “No.  I can’t live like you do.  Too scary.  I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Meanwhile

“You know Andrew, I hate to bring this up, but it seems to me, you really have only one choice, you’re going to have to give Race to someone else.  He’s not going to come in past this noise.  You’re not going to go out and get him and bring him in because you’re door slamming has yet to show there’s been any improvement from Race about staying inside.”

Andrew: “You’re not correct about that.  Actually, this is none of your business, so seeing as you can’t keep your advice to yourself, take your table, coffee cup and lunch stuff and leave.”

So, I did.

The Hate Dilemma

Trying to find out whom to hate today. 

I see reports of serious crimes being committed by people who can be included in sometimes more than one identifiable group. 

Therein lies the dilemma. 

Which to choose? 

If I say all, I'll look like a crackpot. 

Got to pick one. 

Probably can use another one tomorrow. 

Yeah, that'll work.

Greatest Culture Ever?

Italy!  Home of the world's greatest culture!  Ever!

http://ca.autoblog.com/2013/02/11/fiat-500-drivers-italian-u-turn-fiasco-goes-viral/#continued

Please read the text and watch this wonderful event in this short movie to the end.  You may wish to celebrate!