Culture in Danger (Culture en Péril, with subtitles)

It is Friday. The last Monday of the Week. This election is about half done.

We finally have a quality bit of satire to spice it up...and from Quebec - not surprising. And it is about Harper's attitude towards arts and culture. This is an example of why we need artists in our midst. To show us ourselves and in meaningful ways...yes satire is meaningful.

This video is funny even for a unilingual Anglophone like me. If you don't know the "F-word" from a "seal" you may be offended by this video. I sugguest you return to pooping Puffins for a more pedantic bit of prankstering.

Have a great weekend.

Former Fan Passes on Palin

Here is a fundamentalist Republican coming to the conclusion Palin is no fun and may be mentally incapable of being a heart attack away from having responsibility for the nuclear codes.

Is McSame playing politics with the Bush nationalizaton of the American economy? Repubicans are blocking the $700 Billion Bush-league Doctine from going forward.

Jim Ford Is The Best Choice for Edmonton Sherwood Park

I want to write a supportive Blog post in support of Independent Conservative candidate Jim Ford who is running hard in the Edmonton- Sherwood area to replace the retiring Ken Epp. I have been beaten to blog posting on Jim by my friend at FusedLogic.

The nomination shenanigans that have been going on in this constituency seem by some as interference by the national Conservative Party in the local nomination process. I have no comment on that because I have no more information than what I have read in the MSM.

I just want to give some serious support to Jim Ford who is responding to the nomination funny business by stepping up to the plate and running as an Independent candidate. I have known Jim Ford for decades and have come to value him for his goods works in the membership we share in the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party.

He is a man of enormous energy, great wisdom and ability. He has shown courage in the face of adversity and shows a passion to his principles. He has demonstrated admirable qualities of personal integrity. He is no diva. He is a roll-up-your-sleeves kind of guy. I like him because he appreciates the need for a socially progressive role of government while keeping a sharp fiscal pencil to ensure accountability and value for taxpayer dollars. I like and admire Jim Ford as a person and how he stands up for fairness and transparency in politics.

Jim and I have more often to find ourselves on different routes and journeys, but we have always intent on the same goals. We have never disagreed on the overarching need for citizen’s to engage in political participation as the best way to empower our democracy to improve our government and to help improve people’s lives.

Too Many Turfed Candidates From Too Many Political Parties

There is a rash of rash candidates from the Conservatives, the Liberals and the NDP who are embarrassing themselves, their parties and most or all, their leaders.

The CalgaryGrit has done a public service with a recent blog post on these “Fallen Candidates.” Check out his September 24 post "And You Thought Sara Palin's Vetting Was Shoddy."

We need to attract our best and brightest into servant leadership roles to govern us. These are some but not all the bad examples that show how far away from that goal we have strayed in our democracy these days.

Thx CalgaryGrit for the menu so far, and I presume you will keep us posted as more of these people bite the dust.

Is Harper's "Tough On Crime" Playing the Race Card?

Here is another example of Harper’s Conservatives not reflecting the values that are fundamentally Canadian. Calgary Conservative Candidate Lee Richardson is quoted in the Calgary Herald today accusing immigrants as not being law abiding and tagging them as being responsible for big city crime. In fairness there are ethnic gangs in Edmonton and Calgary but that is not an excuse to brand immigrants as the cause of crime in Calgary. It is more complicated than that simplistic and shallow perception.

Richardson is allegedly quoted in Fast Forward – the Calgary alternative newspaper - implying that many crimes are committed by people that are “…not the kid who grew up next door.” Of course Richardson regrets the comments and admits he misspoke. So what! It reflects an attitude and a value set that is destructive and dangerous.

These were not unguarded comments made in a government interdepartmental meeting as Mr. Ritz’s. These comments reflect, again, an underlying and sometimes overt attitude that is very disturbing. Citizens have seriously question and ask themselves if the Cons are fit to govern. This attitude seems to pervade some significant segments of the Uber- Conservative old time Reform/Alliance elements that still dominate Harper’s caucus.

Reader of this Blog know that I despair about the command and control culture of Harper’s leadership as it relates to media, message manipulation and limiting citizen participation and protest in this election. Harper has reverted to issuing tickets to attend his partisan political events in this election – just so he can avoid hearing “other voices.” Don't expect any hard questions from the floor on this issue in the Harper's closed election meeting in Calgary tonight.

Even with only Harper’s messages being allowed, there is an large body of evidence that has come out in this campaign so many of his caucus and cabinet and campaign workers are loose Cannons. I can come to sympathize a bit why Harper can’t let them talk about public policy issues and concerns to citizens and media. The true story of what the ConTrivers are really like starts to become clearer…and it is not pretty.

We need to sustain the Canadian values of an inclusive society. We need political leaders and representatives who are dedicated to intercultural understanding not the marginalization and discrimination of minorities.

Canadians are better than that. The Conservatives are showing that they really don’t understand Canada. Are the Conservatives up to the job of governing? I say no!