Jack's Gone, Now What ?

It was with much dismay and sadness that Canadians learned of the death of  Mr. Jack Layton,   husband of Olivia,  a father, a friend of average Canadians and families,  and clearly a highly- respected statesman.  He was many things, but  he was also the  leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada.   

The first thing that most people will tell you is that Jack was successful at what he did, leading the party that became "official opposition" in the last  Federal election. He tossed  the arrogant  Liberal Party into the twilight zone of political parties,  close to  non-party status.   The fact that he also took Quebec by storm, virtually wiping out the  separatist Bloc Quebecois  is worthy of note.

With that brief but heady success  and facing a  Harper Progressive Conservative majority in the House of Commons,  Jack bravely took on cancer head-to-head for the second time and lost.  
 A state funeral soon to be held will honour Jack.
 
R.I.P, Jack Layton. 
May your family stay strong  and receive comfort in their faith and your memory.

Jack's gone, now what ?

The fact is, I believe that politicizing anyone's death is a bad thing to do and is  thoughtless.  Regardless of one's political affiliation, now is not the time to speculate on the meaning of his " final note" or any other political consideration. 

AT  this time,  at Incoming Bytes  we encourage all Canadians to show respect and reflect kindly upon the  memory of a  great Canadian that  truly earned  the respect of all Canadians.

That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

The New Normal: Expect the Unexpected

Yes, it is May the 1st today,  yet it is not warm by any stretch of the wishful imagination.   Cold and windy, steady as she goes.   Here in NW Ontario the sky is bright, but still tending to be overcast after yesterday's rain.   The sun will come out eventually.  We hope. 

Somehow it seemed gratifying yesterday to get rain instead of  snow.  Much better. We got the shoveling kind  ungraciously bestowed upon us a couple of days ago.  Complaining?

No, not really, -- but...but........C'mon,  a couple of inches of snow wasn't that bad, but it's supposed to be spring, isn't it? My crocuses are in bloom, after all.  Beautiful, too, down there in the snow. 

Regardless, our luck of the draw  here  seems a lot better than the treatment  Mother Nature has been bestowing upon other areas of North America. Vast areas of Manitoba are flooding, farmer's fields are lakes, literally,  basements full of water, and the water isn't even crested yet --with more to come.
I'm feeling lucky and blessed at this point, -- but  I'm guessing we, too,  have to expect the unexpected,  as the new normal.

Internationally,  with radiation still spewing from Fukushima,  a disaster of proportions  that perhaps now exceeds that of Chernobyl, the end of that disaster is nowhere  in sight.   Who would think that an earthquake coupled with a mere tsunami  could eventually endanger the whole of Japan  and other countries as well ?  The nuclear didn't think so.     Expect the unexpected,  it's not a matter of IF disasters will happen, but when. 

In the Southern US, over 340 fatalities--and still counting, with many people missing -- have been caused by perhaps the worst tornado season on record.  Total destruction, a swath of damage that looks a lot like the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan.
Still,  a tornado or two,  perchance a dozen, or three dozen ---but 130 or more in one day?
Isn't that just a bit overdone, Mother Nature?   
Heavily populated areas were hit badly.  Expect the unexpected. 

At Incoming Bytes, our hearts go out to the families of those lost in these terrible tragedies. May they find comfort in their faith.

In Canada, our unwanted  election is May 2nd .   It was a pretty dull campaign, a real yawner, and  the  Harper Conservatives were expecting to garner a majority government.  Guess what. "Were "  is the key word.

Surprise, surprise.  Jack Layton's  New Democratic Party has surged past the Liberals in the last few official polls --  not only moving into 2nd place  to threaten the Conservative majority, but  perhaps .....the unthinkable, could they end up in 1st place?

Maybe  there is some  historical stuff coming up tomorrow.     Surprise, people,-- just  expect the  unexpected.

South of the border again,  Donald Trump, yes, that smiling Donald,  the one and only  Donald --seems to be running for the Presidency of the United States?  Why not, isn't politics a reality show anyway?  
 Maybe he'll bring a whole roster of  "apprentices" to the White House, cute little Presidential trainees. ...I wonder.
If an ex-actor can be successful  president,  why can't  a successful entrepreneurial showman be President?  The Terminator  got to be governor, didn't he? Anything is possible.
  The Donald knows how to fire people. " You're fired" he says, pointing his finger at the unlucky outgoing soul.   Sighs of relief all around the table.  Gary Busey, was the latest statistic,  he was apparently too likeable but just a bit crazy and not a Leader, so  no apprenticeship at the White House for him, --but think about it, a White House with  glitz and spangles and "you're fired! "  ---and big hair.     
Barack, better expect the Unexpected there too.  Maybe it will snow. 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Now we KNOW there's a Jack-Rabbit Election coming Soon

A Jack-rabbit start towards a federal election is now evident.  We  KNOW there's an election coming in Canada, most likely a spring election too, when politicians are seen  out buying influence. 
Jack Layton, the leader of the federal New Democratic Party  was seen  helping Chinese Canadians  celebrate their New Year, which coincidentally happens to be  the 'Year of the Rabbit." --the Jack Rabbit, that is.       
We do not know if  this latest effort will help Jack  and his New Democrats  or not, as  the signals are just a bit confusing;  
In Toronto's Chinatown,  Jack was  handing out chocolate dollars,  -- which one must admit is a Conservative sum;  Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be envious at Jack's ingenuity and careful control of his budget:
The loot being handed out is stashed in a Red envelope, which is Liberal,  and Michael Ignatieff will  undoubtedly wish he had thought of it first;
Jack  handed out one to every pedestrian pushing a stroller and every  businessman on the Bloc  while he was at it,  just to be safe.
  My pointed question must be, " Now where's MY chocolate dollar?"  I love chocolate.
 Everyone should get a chocolate dollar,  Chinese or not, that would be the Democratic way. Canadian politics at it's best-- sweet promises.
Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!   

                                                                                                     photo: Flickr

A Canadian Federal Election "Nobody" Wants......

Parliament Buildings,  Ottawa,  Ontario

 According to my favourite  political guru,  CBC's  Rex Murphy,   nobody wants an election, that's why we're going to have one, and soon.  That sounds logical doesn't it? 
He says,-- and I can only  paraphrase his unique phraseology and chronology, but the gist is as follows:
"The Liberals don't want an election
The Conservatives don't want an election
The Bloc Quebecois doesn't want an election
The New Democrats don't want an election.
 so--we're going to have an election. "


About 85% of Canadians don't want an election either, Rex noted,  but it's more or less guaranteed we WILL have an election -and soon ! 
Rex is probably right. If I have to believe anybody, I'll believe Rex. He's honest. Rex doesn't pull punches. Rex tells it like it is.  
Why ? You may ask:   " Rex  is not a politician"  is the right answer.
Here are some more strange facts:
" We will have an election because 15% of some hereto unidentified fraction of our over-taxed, misinformed population seems to think we NEED an election".  We deny such illogical logic.
  "We will have an election because Canada  actually needs an election".  NO. Canada most certainly does NOT need an expensive election.
  "We will have an election because it is TIME to have an election".  Huh?  Who said so?
How about:  "We will have an election because each and every one of the political leaders are being secretive and actually dishonest about their true desires to seize power, therefore they MUST hold an election."
Could that be the reason?   YES. 
Each of the political leaders also  has their own private and  not-so-secret reason for WANTING an election.  The polls look good.   The conservatives are leading.  Prime Minister Stephen Harper believes he can win a majority, and in response to that happy state of mind,  even though he is out touring the world so that he doesn't have to answer any questions or take responsibility for negative attack-doggy ads,  he must have already authorized his minions to start negative attack-doggy ads on his primary opposition  target,  Michael Ignatieff of the Liberal party. 
 Mr. Ignatieff  is  pictured as shouting "yes yes yes"in one of those ads.  Said to be out of context, no matter. That's what negative attack-doggy ads do, they attack out of context.  That must be  Michael shouting his approval of holding an election, but it is also  reported that Michael seems to be an opportunist Prime Minister wannabe intellectual, who seems to imagine that his vision of the country, when he is IN Canada,  is superior in every way to that of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's vision of the same snow-bound block of real estate.  
What is it Michael  wants ?  Oh, right, the real estate,  he wants to live at 24 Sussex Drive  just because Pierre Trudeau  did.  In doing so, so he  can also tour the world endlessly like Prime Minister Harper is already doing at this time  whilst attempting to pretend he does not want an election.
The Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe doesn't want an election, and is even willing to use extortion  and /or  blackmail Ottawa into giving Quebec $5B, failing which he will magically "want" an election,  just so he and his elitist friends can retain comfy seats in the Canadian Parliament whilst resting betwixt feeble attempts to separate Quebec from Canada, but simultaneously multi-tasking and whining and wheedling more money out of Ottawa, trying to milk the cow dry before it  dies.
Mr. Jack Layton is secretly hoping Gilles and the  Bloc Quebecois will NOT succeed at their attempt to  blackmail  $5B  from the feds to support the upcoming federal budget, thereby forcing the election.  Jack is pretty straight forward.   Jack has the best of both worlds.  He doesn't have to stress himself, he knows the NDP isn't likely to win a Federal election anyway, so why worry about it?  With the Liberals not supporting the budget already a promise, however,  Jack is going to be in the driver's seat, and do his best to kill off the excessive Corporate Tax cuts that are promised by the Conservatives.  So.....we're having an election.


Conclusion of the day:   No wonder Canadians do not trust politics OR politicians.   Where have we heard that before?  Hey, Rex, I know....at Incoming BYTES,  of course...