All Purpose Politics and News Thread

[Patty Smyth]

^^ Well when you have nothing but a horrendous record yourself you must deflect the blame somewhere.

Election can't come soon enough, I would even be happy with a conservative minority and then another 18 months to get it together and bring them down.

[TaraF]

True Patty, but did you hear about the 242 page "Fair Election Act" Harper is trying to push through? Without any consultation or debate on the floor? The very act that has left the Chief Electoral Officer to say the following:

"the government's proposed overhaul of the Elections Act includes elements that constitute an affront to democracy." Mayrand goes on to say, "my reading of the act is that I can no longer speak about democracy in this country."

I mean have you ever heard of something so disgusting as forbidding elections Canada from encouraging Canadians to vote? Well if the "Fair Elections Act" passes it will do just that.

On the note of Majority VS Minority Governments though, it's why no matter who is in office I HATE a Majority Government. The position is too easily abused and things can be pushed through with no debate.

[Darth Penguin]

Sinkhole swallows Corvettes at car museum

A sinkhole has swallowed eight rare automobiles at a sports car museum in the US state of Kentucky.
No injuries were reported when the ground caved in at the National Corvette Museum in the city of Bowling Green in the early hours of Wednesday.
Despite the hole, estimated to be 40ft (12m) wide and 30ft deep, parts of the museum remain open, said a spokeswoman.
Bowling Green is the only place where automobile-maker General Motors builds the Corvette sports car.
Two of the damaged cars - a 2009 ZR1 Blue Devil and a 1993 ZR-1 Spyder - were on loan to the museum from the company.
Six other cars owned by the museum were damaged by the sinkhole: a 1984 PPG Pace Car; a 1962 black Corvette; a 1993 Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Corvette; a 1992 White 1 Millionth Corvette; a 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette; and a 2009 white 1.5 Millionth Corvette.

[Natalka]

Chris Goodwin, the manager of Vapor Central, has developed and packaged Justin Trudeau Zig-Zag rolling papers for sale on-line and at retail outlets in Southern Ontario.


If you're not in to smoking any substances you can also buy a Trudeau rolling papers T-shirt for $24.95.
According to Goodwin, any profits he makes will go to the Liberal Party in the form of a campaign donation.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canad...211457281.html

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Trudeau releases economic policy - no, it's not a joke, it's official -

I tried to just listen and ignore the cartoons and animation, but I can understand why he chose this medium to get to his target audience.

Remember to send in the donation he's asking for if you watch.

www.liberal.ca/

[Darth Penguin]

Germany arrests 3 suspected Auschwitz guards

Three men aged 88, 92 and 94 have been detained by German authorities on suspicion of being guards at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
The homes of a number of men were raided in three German states, months after prosecutors investigating Nazi-era war crimes announced they were recommending charges against 30 people.
The three men taken into custody have been sent to a prison hospital.
More than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were murdered at Auschwitz.
The three men detained all live in the south-western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and are suspected of involvement in murders that took place between 1942-45. They were taken to Hohenasperg prison hospital in Ludwigsburg, reports say.

[Patty Smyth]

^^ I saw this, can you imagine you think you got away with it then oops Gotcha!!!

I would encourage anyone who is interested in history to watch a movie called The Conspiracy. It's about the men who came up with the "final solution". Incredible, I rented it for my son to watch as well as Schindlers List and Citizen Kane this week.

[Darth Penguin]

The wheels of justice roll slowly sometimes.


I'lll look out for that movie Patty. I'm currently up to me ears in WWI history but a good WWII movie is always worth taking some time out for.

[Darth Penguin]

Anne Frank's Diary vandalised in Japan libraries

More than 100 copies of Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl have been vandalised in public libraries in Japan's capital Tokyo, officials say.
Pages have been ripped from at least 265 copies of the diary and other related books, they added.
It is not clear who is behind the vandalism. A US Jewish rights group has called for a police investigation.
Anne Frank's diary was written during World War Two, while the teenager hid from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam.
The book made her a symbol of the suffering of Jews during the war.

For many Japanese the book forms the basis of their knowledge about the Jewish holocaust, the BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo reports.
But what might have motivated the attacks remains a mystery. Japan has no history of Jewish settlement and no real history of anti-Semitism, our correspondent adds.
Toshihiro Obayashi, a library official in West Tokyo's Suginsami area, said: "Each and every book which comes up under the index of Anne Frank has been damaged at our library."
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a global Jewish human rights organisation, said in a statement that it was shocked and concerned by the incidents, and called for the authorities to investigate.
"The geographic scope of these incidents strongly suggest an organised effort to denigrate the memory of the most famous of the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis in the World War Two Holocaust," associate dean Abraham Cooper said.

"Anne Frank is studied and revered by millions of Japanese," Mr Cooper added. "Only people imbued with bigotry and hatred would seek to destroy Anne's historic words of courage, hope and love in the face of impending doom."
The book was added to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's Memory of the World Register in 2009.
Anne Frank's diary was translated into Japanese in December 1952 and topped the bestseller lists in 1953.

Professor Rotem Kowner, an expert in Japanese history and culture at Israel's University of Haifa, told the BBC that the book has been exceptionally popular and successful in Japan.
He says that in terms of absolute numbers of copies of the book sold, Japan is second only to the US, and adds that for Japanese readers the story transcended its Jewish identity to symbolise more powerfully the struggle of youth for survival.
"In the 1950s and the 1960s, there were competitions in which Japanese teenagers had to reflect on the experience of Anne Frank. Thousands of teenagers sent their submissions to such competitions," Professor Kowner says.
"It was a book about a war tragedy and the way youth experienced war... For many Japanese they would view this as a tragic development," he adds.

[TaraF]

Well this is what I like to read. Majority says it's time for another Federal party to take over: poll

Let us just hope that those polled that actually feel that way will actually exercise their right to vote and do so.

[DaveP]

Well this is what I like to read. Majority says it's time for another Federal party to take over: poll

Let us just hope that those polled that actually feel that way will actually exercise their right to vote and do so.

Oh they will. And just like last time they'll split their votes between 4 parties while we folks who want a responsible government vote for one. Hard to say this far away whether the next government will be a minority or majority, but it will be a Conservative government. The Liberals and NDP will do their level best to destroy each other, the Bloq will stage somewhat of a comeback and the Greens will do what they have always done - suck far left votes off into oblivion.

And at the end of the day, Canada wins. We will have a steady, proven government. Again.

[Patty Smyth]

Oh they will. And just like last time they'll split their votes between 4 parties while we folks who want a responsible government vote for one. Hard to say this far away whether the next government will be a minority or majority, but it will be a Conservative government. The Liberals and NDP will do their level best to destroy each other, the Bloq will stage somewhat of a comeback and the Greens will do what they have always done - suck far left votes off into oblivion.

And at the end of the day, Canada wins. We will have a steady, proven government. Again.

All I can say with some certainty for the next election is 1. it is too far away and 2. The NDP will not take Quebec this time.

[DaveP]

All I can say with some certainty for the next election is 1. it is too far away and 2. The NDP will not take Quebec this time.

Agree. Hopefully they'll park their votes with the Bloq - if Quebec swings Liberal the way they went for the NDP in '11 that would be... problematic for the Conservatives. You're in Quebec Patty, how is Justin perceived there? Is there still much ill will toward him because of his last name?

[Natalka]

Anyone watching the Liberal convention?

[TaraF]

I am quite certain we'll be looking at a Liberal Government next time, it may only be a minority one but I am hard pressed to see a Conservative one. Unless dirty tricks are at play again.

[Natalka]

In a speech that was earlier broadcast by mistake on closed-circuit television to the media room as it was being rehearsed, Trudeau said Canadians should have trust in the diversity of Quebec despite the Quebec charter of values bill proposed by Marois's government that would ban the wearing of conspicuous religious symbols in provincially funded jobs.
Trudeau praised the diversity he says he knows exists in Quebec, despite "the divisions that are being stoked in this province these days."

His speech Thursday was short — about 10 minutes — with a much more substantial address expected Saturday.

There was a bit of theatre, as Trudeau dialed home to Ottawa via Skype to say goodnight to his young children. His wife Sophie Grégoire is expecting another baby "at any moment," he said.

Between 2,500 and 3,000 Liberal members have registered for the convention, which is taking place over three days at the Palais de Congrès in downtown Montreal. Over 150 policies will be debated, with resolutions that originated with the Liberal caucus, Liberal associations and Liberal commissions for women, youth, seniors and aboriginal people.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/just...eech-1.2545497