Canada Votes Day 10: Jack Opens The Monetary Sluicegates

One billion! Jack is going to spend one billllllion dollars. And for what? Med students!

Speaking at Dalhousie University’s medical school, Mr. Layton said an NDP government would spend an average of $200-million a year to increase training spaces and help provinces expand their medical schools.

Madness. Seemingly sensible madness. It’s always the way, though. Never a plan for the 45 year old slightly pudgy dreamer, those specialists in small to medium ideas that never get picked up. Why no plan for us, Jack(!)? Hmm? Hmmm???? To be fair, last time I was among Dal Med students back in the day, I did like their frat’s (Phi Chi) bowling – taking a dozen empties and recycling them through firm contact with a wall in the basement. But, really, isn’t what we need something that brings that same sense of fun and innovation into the lives of the dulled and enrutted? Those otherwise known as the backbone of the economy – folks in their forties?

What needs to be done by Jack(!) to fill that need? I say a policy that combines preventative health policy, international development and giving the little guy, that cog in the wheel of industry, a break – and not a tax break…I mean a break. I am talking Federally subsidized Caribbean holiday camps. To create work in our shipyards, we build a fleet of liners to ferry the overworked and under-appreciated to Turks and Caicos after finally finalizing provincial status. There slightly challenging courses on topics such as the history of moustacheo care in the 1970s, the use of orange in everyday fashion, great socialists in winter sports are offered while the kids are taken care of back north through a nationalized teen daycare…err…weekcare program.

Brilliant. By focusing on the demographic that likely won’t vote Jack(!) anyway, lives are changed, happiness is reinvested creating a more productive workforce and binds across the nation. Katimavik for adults…without any real assistance to others…but with drinks and a warm beach. Isn’t that what we really want? What other programs and promises should we see over the next month or so?

Other news for Day 10:

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Canada Votes Day 8: Do We Need To Reinvent History?

Stephen Harper has an eye for the use of history. It’s a means to illustrate a desired image. But is he concerned enough about actual history? He spoke yesterday about creating the notion that conservatism is something that has an exclusive hold on certain elements of the Canadian identity – yet does so quite openly without firm footing in the facts. How unsatisfactory. Consider this:

He said in the last two decades there’s been a broad embrace of policies once considered the domain of conservatives, from free trade to balanced budgets and spending restraint. “We saw the Liberal Party in the 1990s flip its positions on all these issues and adopt small c-conservative positions,” Mr. Harper said. But there’s also been a revival of pride in ideas and entities that conservatives have traditionally backed, Mr. Harper said, meaning not just policies and organization that Liberals and New Democrats say defines Canada. “Not just [in] things like Medicare and the [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] but [also] in our national military and other institutions,” he said.

So, did you know that fiscal prudence and military honour are “conservative” values? Never mind that a conservative Prime Minister, Brian Mulroney, increased the national debt more than any other leader or that provincial Conservative parties from Nova Scotia to Ontario to Saskatchewan led sometimes scandalously mismanaged governments, leaving records of debt and even jail terms. Never mind that Canadians of all stripes both answered the call and Liberals guided Canada’s hand in military affairs in our darkest hours – Chris Taylor has the right read on politicizing the forces. Never mind it was a Tory who brought in the CBC and minimum wage and other socialist programs when they were needed. And it was the Grit MacKenzie King who led the fight against the Nazis and our Conservative Prime Minister Borden who understood the need to have a Unity government of both Liberals and Conservatives in WWI’s toughest times.

Strange to see Stephen Harper take the credit for these things solely for his own kind. The good values of good governance, honouring one’s duty are values all Canadians aspire to and some, regardless of party affiliation, achieve. Any half-way able opposition leader would run up and down him with the facts and leave him nothing but breathless. We do not live in those days, however. Sadder still is the lack of necessity as the Prime Minister could state instead that he seeks to capture the values held dear by all Canadians and to govern guided by those good principles. A missed opportunity to tell actual history and weave it into his own story…and his within it.

Other News For Day 8:

  • Nuttin’ yet.

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Canada Votes Day 6: Friday Bullet Points For Week One

There is a certain pattern to elections. The days come and go and within only a few days some patterns seem to appear. Generalities. Themes. Motifs, even. So far in this one the main theme I see is that the Liberals have not collapsed through their own sheer incompetency. I think we all had suspected they might. That is victory in itself. Next, Stephen Harper is trying to be nice and, in doing so, is showing more confidence than his prior chippy habits allowed – though sooner or later it might cloy. Third, faction and gridlock rules. And a fair bit of ho-hum. Something is really going to have to break for anyone to get momentum. Frankly, I think the Tories have a plan to do just that after a quiet first third, a initial phony campaign. But what? What can it be? You will just have to wait.

Other news on Day 6:

Hmmm…for the rest of you unCanadians out there – what else is going on outside of mapled politics?

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Two Lager Yeast Strains, Two Homecaves

I am sure I will get this wrong and that Ron will be able to clarify but it appears that two forensic yeast researchers have determined that lager yeast came into existence twice during two separate events:

…the team discovered that it happened at least twice in two separate locations in Europe, giving rise to the two different lager families…The hybrid, which makes lager instead of ale, probably evolved in Bavarian beer-brewing cellars during the 16th century. The team also found that Saaz yeasts have a single copy of each parent yeast’s genome, whereas the Frohberg yeasts have an extra copy from S. cerevisiae. They believe this difference affects the flavour of the lager, as well as how quickly the yeasts can ferment the hops.

OK, so the egg heads in lab coats don’t know that hops do not do the fermenting. Forgive them. Take a breath. There, that’s better. Apparently, that there are Saaz and Frohberg strains of lager yeast has been long known. But what was not known was that they developed independently from each other – as this article in today’s New Scientist explains in further detail. Sadly, they cannot trace back to which Bavarian cave gave birth to which strain and when. Even more detail here including this interesting tidbit:

Studying the spread of the two groups provides a genetic snapshot of lager brewing in Europe during the past 600 years: one lineage is associated primarily with Carlsberg breweries in Denmark and others in what is now Czechoslovakia, while the other group localizes to breweries in the Netherlands, including Heineken.

Neato. The team’s full research results will be published tomorrow by Genome Research.

Canada Votes Day 5: All We Want Is A New Enegy Economy

One of the great things about a Canadian election is learning how many ways the same thing can be put. From the right-wing to the left-wing is a span of about a nanometre on the scale of political ideologies. Our neo-cons support socialist programs in health care and business development, our socialists support the free market. In this election there is no better example than the New Energy Economy. Jack (!) has announced programs to shift manufacturing on to a more sustainable foundation. The governing Conservatives have a remarkably strong and, dare I say, progressive program for shifting to a more sustainable economy. We all know about the Green Shift from the Liberals, even if we don’t quite understand it…perhaps, to be fair, yet. Don’t like the big parties? Then you can vote for the Green Party.

This is all plainly good and a bit weird. And I think it is plainly good for another reason other than keeping the place neat and tidy – it will create a new bubble economy! In the last fifteen years we have lived through the IT bubble (burst in 1998-2000) and the credit bubble (burst 2007-2008). The times of bubble economy are good times. Plenty of investment and, best, plenty of high grade burn rate of that investment, distributed generously amongst work toys, snack trays and recreational marine craft. People expect no results and lots of meetings over lunch. People get hired, buy things, save. All good.

And especially good if, by some fluke, the bubble also has the side effect of creating a number of actual benefits other than blowing the investments of others. In addition to jobs and increased trade, energy security should be that sort of bonus side effect benefit…in addition to thousands of buffet-style Chinese, Thai and Korean BBQ takeouts devoured in lunchrooms across the land.

Other news on Day 5:

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Canada Votes Day 4: How Many Swing Votes Is Puffin Poo Worth?

The Liberals must be loving this. Everything so far is about how Dion is not as bad as made out to be. First, we learn he has a hearing issue: so he is not the risk the Tory ads would tell you. Then, now he’s outdoorsy: so not an inept bookish dweeb the Tory ads say. And, now, he wears no bird poopie upon his shoulder. Bird poopilessness good. And by the way, Toronto Star, let’s be clear: a puffin is an auk, not a duck as your website stated. Just because we are in an election does not mean we chuck ornithology out the window. Duck poop, indeed.

So now Jack(!) has called for civility and, brace yourself, Stephen Harper has apologized. Harper never apologizes for his own actions. But, now he has – so that is good. He is growing up, too. And speaking of change, don’t expect website management to be left in the hands of partisan teenagers anymore. This apologizing tone is not the campaign the Tories expected.

You know, given that the Conservatives had wanted to make this election about Dion’s ineptness, Grits should remember Iggy wanted to make the puffin the symbol of the Liberal Party. Perfect. Do it…err, bad choice of words…make it so. They should shower themselves with stuffed puffins and plaster puffins on bumper stickers to remind us of the value a sense of humour in the face of mean spiritedness.

Other news for Day 4:

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Canada Votes Day 2: The Nasty Campaign

Being Canada’s favorite swing voter, it’s sad to see that Mr. Harper has begun with a great big fib, caught so plainly by the Edmonton Sun:

…it’s Harper’s Conservatives who are likely to prove most adept at demonizing their opponents. For almost two years, the Tories have kept up a barrage of negative radio and television ads against Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, depicting him as weak, indecisive, “not a leader,” and “not worth the risk.” Most ads have been accompanied by an unflattering photo of Dion shrugging his shoulders — a gesture that makes him look clueless and ineffectual…Nevertheless, Harper now says he expects to be the victim of “a very nasty kind of personal-attack campaign.”

Seems to be a case of he who lives by the sword dying by the sword…unless he who lives by the sword also beats off and beats up he who was trying to kill off he who lives by the sword. Regardless, be not fooled. Dion has endured an embarrassment of slander through the days of the last government and has actually come out a teensy-weensy bit better off for it, most Canadians actually thinking the Tory tactic was punkish if not a little thugish.

Whether Dion can leverage something off of his two years of rope-a-dope is an entirely different matter.

Other issues for Day 2: There is more going on out there today like:

More later if there is more later.

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Apparently Beer Is, In Fact, The Affordable Luxury

Last December, I suggested that we may see a bump of sorts in beer sales in response to the recession in the US. In another in a series of events that prove that, yes, if enough monkeys used typewriters one could write sonnets, it appears I may well have been right as The Washington Post notes, via a twittery h/t to Cizauskas:

…this time around is different. Smoking has fallen into such ill repute that many municipalities ban it. Fuel costs have made driving or flying to a casino a pricey proposition, and gambling has become almost an afterthought at many of the lavish new ones. Now it seems the only acceptable — and affordable — sin left is alcohol, namely beer. “It’s really considered a consumer staple kind of industry,” said Dan Ahrens, author of the book “Investing in Vice.” He put it on par with toothpaste, or, say, soap. “People gotta drink no matter what’s going on with the economy.” More than 16 million barrels of domestic beer were sold in the United States in July, and annual sales through that month are up 1.4 percent, the largest increase since 1990, when the economy was headed toward a recession…

So not only is beer affordable but, in this time of downturn or at least stagnation, there are fewer and fewer acceptable sins available to the average American, who on average, has a bit less to spend. I still think this means craft brewers need to focus on the low-price end of the their brands.

The high end of beer pricing is moving in the wrong direction, however. When I was beer shopping down south this year, I saw beer in the $20 and even over $30 range for the first time. I declined even though I have some advertising support for my sin spending. I did buy a $20 De Ranke Kriek but that was only because I am obsessed. But I was not snookered at all by those offerings as a quick review of my sales slip shows a great number of great beers for a great price – Harviestoun Ola Dubh 12 for $8, a small bottle from Meantime for $3.50, large Bernardus 12 for $10 plus a large number of great new New England craft beers for even less than half of those prices.

My point? Beer is the affordable sin not just as a budget recourse to easy mindless comfort but because it still can provides great value for extraordinary products in tight times.

Confused About The Candidates? Get A List Going

I was flipping channels last night and caught Andrew Coyne on TVO’s news show The Agenda as part of a panel. He was lamenting the actual record of Stephen Harper as a conservative and listed a few items like the ignoring his own fixed election law and keeping an unelected Senator in the cabinet…not to mention that blurting out that Quebec is a nation. It got me thinking about lists. Look at this now instantly famous list from one Anne Kilkenny, the Alaskan voicing her familiarity with the arc of Sarah Palin’s career:

  • “Hockey mom”: True for a few years
  • “PTA mom”: True years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since
  • “NRA supporter”: Absolutely true
  • Social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, but vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconstitutional).
  • Pro-creationism: Mixed. Supports it, but did nothing as governor to promote it.
  • “Pro-life”: Mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby but declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation.
  • “Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
  • Political maverick: Not at all.
  • Gutsy: Absolutely!
  • Open and transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
  • Has a developed philosophy of public policy: No.
  • “A Greenie”: No. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
  • Fiscal conservative: Not by my definition!
  • Pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
  • Pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents
  • Pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history.
  • Pro-labor/pro-union: No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

For me, this is an effort to establish understanding rather than a purely snarky attack. And by “understanding” I mean one’s own opinion of the acts of another – not some effort to interpret in the context of either ideological purity or some fuzzy concept like the truth that the two-dimensional (to be charitable with the number of dimensions) fools on most blogs would tout but never actually comprehend. Note also the use of the word “mixed”. For me, it admits as much as about Palin as about the list maker. Each are imperfect and carries baggage.

So what would you list as the characteristics of the candidates in either the US or Canadian elections? Are you, like Coyne, one who can’t make a list for our Conservative Party Prime Minister which is “conservative”…or even arising from his “party” rather than himself for that matter. And what of Dion the Grit or Jack the Dipper? What do they stand for when we compare words and actual deeds? What is on your list for them? For me, it is important to take on this exercise for a couple of reasons. First, there has never been such a time when promises and actions were as distantly placed. The Tories have governed as Liberals, the Liberals have been the Tory’s best back benchers and the NDP have been inordinately silent through the whole thing. Second, this is an important election. If Harper is to get his majority – which he may now have earned however unlikely – it should not be though sleepwalking the electorate to the polls. If he does get it, expect a national reflection of Ontario’s Mike Harris years: low tax, high spend retreat to deficit financing with an minoritarian ideological response for every practical problem. You may want that. You may not. You may be considering this in the context of the listeria scandal. Do you actually know what you want? Third, this election seems to be entirely about voting against someone – not some policy but someone. Is it? And shouldn’t you know what you really think about them if that is the case?

What’s on your list?

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