What's great about having a blog is that you can say whatever the hell you want. Usually that means trumpeting your opinions to the world, no matter how asinine. So, in that very spirit, this week I'll be presenting my ideas for New Democratic Party ads for the up coming election. Over the next three days I'll post hypothetical scripts a negative, a comparative and a positive ad. They focus on the NDP's theme of making a positive choice -- contrasting it with Paul Martin's lack of vi...

Our healthcare system is unsustainable! It's one of those senseless memes, repeated so often it seems entirely senseable. Well, contrary to all manner of political blather, our healthcare system is actually a veritable picture of sustainability. The Canadian healthcare debate has been hijacked, taken over by partisan hacks. These guys have got an agenda, but no Google to back it up. Research is manipulated, economics are disregarded and politics are pursued at the cost of...

A little overboard, but worth the read : "NDP Leader Jack Layton and the coyote character in the Road Runner cartoon have a lot in common these days." "Over the past 18 months, momentum has propelled the NDP forward." "But a sizeable amount of running on thin air is involved in the process. In classic Looney Tunes tradition, gravity could kick in before the party reaches safety on the other side of the election abyss."

How could any decent human being want to 'limit' this scandal ? "The publication of more photos showing the abuse and degradation of prisoners in Iraq prompted U.S. President George W. Bush to apologize Thursday for the humiliation they had suffered." "The new photos threaten U.S. efforts to limit a scandal spiralling out of control. They come amid reports from the International Committee for the Red Cross that its officials were worried about activities at Abu Ghraib prison, ...

Liberal Attack Ad : "If Stephen Harper becomes PM you'll have two healthcare options: Be rich. Or don't get sick." Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew : "If some provinces want to experiment with private delivery options, my view is that as long as [provinces] respect the single, public payer, we should be examining these efforts and then compare notes between the provinces." Former Health Minister Anne McLellan : "My view of this is: Does corporate s...

Well, I guess they'd have to believe it to be delusional : "'We think we have a shot at winning this election. We certainly have to be prepared, one way or the other,' Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said, telling reporters that the party is working on a possible transition to government."

Between October and December of 2003 : "Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frig...

As the author of a Canadian and American political blog, nothing warms my heart quite like a showdown between Fox blowhard Bill O'Reilly and Canada's most respected newspaper, The Globe and Mail : "On Friday, O'Reilly took exception to reports that he is an 'ultra-conservative' and that he does not like Canada. In recent days, the outspoken American TV personality has been involved in a running dispute with Toronto's Globe & Mail newspaper..." "But the biggest bone O'Reilly ...

Bush on Canadian beef: "It's also in our (U.S.) interest that we make decisions based on sound science." Forgive me if I don't trust President Bush's record of basing policy on 'sound science'.

Kinsella sends you here : "[Layton] wants a capitalism that creates sustainable growth, that protects the environment, that doesn't genuflect to corporate or global military power, that does its best to make sure that our poorest citizens aren't treated like trash. Standing next to Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, what Jack Layton looks like is not a sellout, but a real, electable alternative. And for the chance to actually implement his ideas, he's willing to work towards socia...

Somehow Stephen Harper has managed to go negative and bland at the same time. Did anyone even know that was possible? It's actually more muddled than bland. A bunch sentences strung together, clearly meant to call the Liberals rotten bastards, but never actually making that, or any other point. Harper cedes the debate with his first sentence: "When does a government decide it's time to become accountable?" You see, Team Martin wants to frame the debate as a question ...

Doesn't this sound familiar. "His vague and mushy government agenda; his lingering ties with his favourite group of lobbyists; the sense, listening to jilted, would-be Liberal candidates in Western Canada, that it is better to be a crony of this Prime Minister than a member of a visible minority or a woman." I believe the exact words I'm looking for are "Paul Martin's a wimp" and "Paul Martin's All Talk" .

From the Department of 'Why Leadership Races Matter' , allowing Paul Martin's content free coronation has come back to bite Liberals in the ass. This man has no new ideas, no new vision; this man refuses to stand up for anything : "In what is increasingly becoming a recurring pattern, Martin is offering up his rhetoric as a substitute for his predecessor's legacy pieces." All talk.

Let's be clear: Bush is not a Nazi. The zealous proclamations of zealots aside, such rhetoric has no place in serious discussion. Bush hasn't killed six million of anyone. But it's become increasingly clear that ideological neo-conservatism is in fact a new form of fascism. Thanks to the behaviour of the aforementioned zealots, words such as 'fascism' have lost their meaning in modern discourse. Business men in three piece suits dismiss us as 'Communists'; street protesters decry the...

From the Department of Rodents Seeking More Seaworthy Vessels we have quite the juxtaposition. Ying ... "Prime Minister Paul Martin's Quebec lieutenant appeared at a news conference with seven Liberal candidates, all former separatists, saying he hopes they can take votes away from the Bloc Quebecois in the next federal election." ...and Yang : "[V]ocal former Jean Chrétien staffer Warren Kinsella went so far as to say the announcement has made him decide he wi...