The Kids of Today Scare Me...

For anyone who still watches the news, I am sure you are aware of a group of protesters that stormed the House of Commons to protest a Private Members Bill that was tabled by the NDP.

I won’t even get into the details of the bill, because private members bills are the very definition of my tax dollars being wasted by way of MP’s salaries going into debating legislation that:

1) Has no money attached to it.
2) Is unenforceable.
3) Has no legislative teeth even if it passes.

Basically even if legislation that promised a chicken in every pot passed via a private members bill, since there is no money tied to these bills it would pretty well equal up to the government wasting hours debating the bill to conclude that having a chicken in every pot would be a good idea, however doing nothing to actually get a chicken into Canadians pots so to speak.

So for these rocket scientists that opted to storm the house of commons to defend a piece of legislation that has less value then the paper I used this morning in the washroom as I was thumbing through the latest issue of Cosmo and learning “If my guy is really that into me”, it ended poorly as they were escorted out by Commons security and resulted in two Commons guards being sent to the hospital in the process.

Yeah, some of the protesters were hurt.
However, none of them were hurt enough to bother discussing it.

Now the accusation by Conservative MP Jay Hill, is that NDP leader Jack Layton actually booked the room that these protesters used to practice their chants before they stormed the Commons.

Have a read here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bureau-blog/did-jack-layton-know/article1340688/

I understand that it’s hard to get excited about what passes as a “scandal” these days in Ottawa, where you have the Liberals holding press conferences to discuss how certain websites are “Blue” and the conspiracy theory that the Canadian Olympic Logo is a defacto Conservative Party of Canada Logo.

Because I for one can assure you that during the last election, the last thing I saw was a red car in the parking lot which mesmerized me so much that I simply needed to vote Liberal…

See that is the problem with the NDP, not enough Orange cars on the road.

What passes for scandal in Ottawa is clearly not as sexy as it use to be.

However,
If Jack had anything to do with these young folks storming into Parliament then as far as I am concerned, that is a pretty sexy scandal.

One that a Conservative or Liberal MP would need to resign as a result of.

Although, it doesn’t seem to be getting any airplay?

Had Iggy pulled this stunt, it would have resulted in a lead story on most news networks?

Had Harper pulled this stunt, there would be a seven day exposé in the Toronto Star, and CBC would have broken into the middle of Pit Pony to drop this bomb.

I think this really does explain why the NDP is stuck in the mud, and destine to because the fourth party till they are overtaken and forgotten, because this sort of thing seems to get the standard response of:

“Come on, It’s Vintage Jack”

While at the end of the day, its good news because Jack can continue to lead and fight the good fight regardless of if he was in anyway involved or not which we really don’t know.

However, if the NDP ever wants to become a viable opposition party they have to stop acting like the spoiled younger brother who’s parents are too tired from raising the first few kids that they just give in when little Jackie stomps up and down, or holds his breath.

The fact that most media outlets don’t find this news worthy, when a Press Conference of Wayne Easter shaking a doorknob last week made page one on many of the news websites seems to be indicative of the fact that we don’t hold the NDP to the same standard we hold the other parties.

Which has to make you wonder if voters’ en mass can ever hold the NDP to a high enough standard to give them more then 40 seats in the Commons?

Who are you? And what are you doing here?

It’s hard to care.


Please be clear, it’s not because I don’t care about my country, or the democratic process or the sacrifices that were made so that I could enjoy the freedoms I wake up with every morning that I take for granted.


It’s just hard when the majority of your country is populated by people who are more interested in what happened on last nights CSI trilogy episode then what is happening in the halls of the very government they rolled their eyes and had to drive all the way to the polling station to vote for a year ago.


Listening to people talk about politics in this country is enough to almost want a despot, not a really mean one, but just a guy who is enough of an asshole to make people realize what “fascism” and a “theft of liberties” actually is, and just for a few months. I can assure you that voter turn out in the election to follow would be in mid 90% range.

People seem to form their opinions based on the headline in a newspaper, or a 30 second TV ad.


Forget about actually reading the article under the headline, or doing your own research to verify what is being fed to you, I mean come on…Survivor is on tonight…


To be very clear, so that I don’t lead anyone along the wrong path:



I consider myself to be a strong fiscal Conservative, and a strong social Libertarian.


What does that mean?


1) It means I don’t care who you are nailing in your bedroom,


As long as they are of age and they are consenting.


2) It means that I don’t care what you drink, smoke, or snort in the comfort of your living room.


But the second you go out on the streets or behind the wheel onto roads that you share with me and the sons and daughters of this country, you should be pulled aside and asked to bite the curb as your skull is stomped into it for being a reckless idiot, because now you are effecting my freedom and my rights.


3) It means that I understand that many laws are in place because of a minority of people who cannot understand what it means not to infringe on the rights of others.


I can talk on my cell phone and keep my eyes on the road, however I understand that the asshole barreling down the 401 @ 3PM talking, texting, and watching a YouTube Video on his iPhone is going to kill someone, and if I have to use a headset because other people cannot be responsible just in the chance that law will save the life of someone I have never met, I am fine with it.


4) It means I don’t consider the Government a replacement for personal responsibility


You make your own choices in life, you raise your kids, you have kids, you parent your own kids, however if we reach a point where your kid power slams someone on the playground at recess because you didn’t supervise them and they watched Monday Night Raw, its not the governments responsibility to ban Raw, its your responsibility to do your damn job as a parent.


5) It means the Government should run their finances like every Canadian has to run theirs


I would love a 50” 1080p Plasma in my crapper and I could whip out the plastic and pay for that TV, however then I have to deal with how to pay for it when the bill shows up later that month, something the government (of all political stripes) simply do not do, its spend, spend, spend to buy votes and let the kids deal with it.


Well I am one of those kids who is dealing with the consequences of that mentality during the Pierre Trudeau era, I am the generation that was left holding the bag so that he could have his own chapter in Canadian History textbooks.


I always considered Pierre Trudeau to be like that cool uncle who you only saw once or twice a year who brought you awesome gifts and was so laid back and cool that you just wanted to be him, yet at his funeral you had debt collectors lined up around the corner,


Stephen Harper for all his faults (pre 2009 budget) was like that stingy uncle (a miser or a cheapskate if you will) who always brought a sandwich and an apple in a brown paper bag, never ate out, and always gave you these odd cheap gifts which were practical but not cool, and when he died you found that he left you 20k in his will.


I don’t need my politicians’ to be “cool” I need them to do their damn jobs and have the best interest of the future of this country in mind all the time.


So why am I blogging?


I don’t want to “talk” politics with my friends, neighbors’, or family.


I want to comment. I want to take the latest outrage and vent on it.


You as a reader will basically just read my internal frustrations as the explode onto a page.


In this political climate with an opposition in Ottawa that is making decisions based on weekly polling data, and a Liberal Government in Toronto who can rock out a scandal like eHealth yet still be ahead in the polls…


I need a place a vent, and since every other asshole has a blog?


Why not this asshole?