Not my fight, and not my words,

but I wish it was, and I wish they were...

Molly Wood, co-host of CNET's Buzz Out Loud and of general internet fame wrote an amazing piece in her blog about Prop 8 in California. She made her point so eloquently, that if you found that nail with a how ever many angel's dancing upon it, that her hammer would have stuck the nail head true, and not the angel's. Which is a strange metaphor in light of the source of most of the hate that fueled the inception of Prop 8 in the first place. If you vote in California, please vote NO on prop 8, please!

Yesterday

Yesterday I was disgusted by politics, I'm far from over joyed today, but I'm certainly less disgusted. With Elizabeth May's inclusion into the debate I think we give the Green Party the final step of legitimate that it has been seeking. May has a style and character I admire, she is principled and she speaks of a kind of government I can accept one where everyone comes to the table to contribute. Each politician should represent first there constituents before there party, and the good of Canada overall. They should be willing to work together and seek compromise and good governance, and they need to work without the conceit that there ideas are superlatives and their foes ideas utter crap. Together the sum of our parliament could be greater then the squabbling mass of detritus we are currently living with.

Anyways, good job Ms. May, and good luck in the debate, as they say, be careful what you wish for...

Instead of providing real content

I've opted for some irreverence...

Since I don't know how to post an image in a comment response...

My "ball of flames" was subconsciously generated from an earlier reading of this CBC article, which was linked to by this image (owned by CBC used without permission.)

Something with more meat, barely

Just reviewing post election coverage, and I came across this gem in The Star:

For many voters, the Harris government represented a necessary evil – a political enema to purge the province of excess.

MMP went down in a ball of flame, I hope that isn't the end of the debate, unfortunately no one even knew what they were voting for. A co-worker confessed to me this morning that they didn't know what it was about and voted the status quo, this guy is a very intelligent hard working guy with a business and engineering background. He was just too busy, and missed the one pamphlet that came in the mail. It did raise the astute point that many Ontarians don't understand the principles of economics and finance, and you expect them to understand an entire new voting system with out a concerted effort of education? The debate from the no side was rather poisonous, I can admit MMP was imperfect, but it was hardly the bastion of a Taliban Canada. We shall see what direction they take it from here, maybe baby steps to an improved system are in order?

Alternatively I recommend a new method, I call it, First Past the Mixed Member Proportional Post.

The way you do it is you run an FFP election to elect the one hundred and some odd seats there are, then you assign list candidates from each party list until you have a popular vote representation. Then you stick them all on the front door step of Queen's Park together. Then you let them race into the legislature the first members to claim one of the 107 seats, gets to keep it. All and all, I think there will be a great mandate to help Athletics Ontario, and Sports Medicine and a decline in childhood obesity.

Another alternative is First to Mix Up a Member with the Post, in which you arrive at the same grouping of 107 + balance members, give them all quarterstaff's, and let them club each other until only 107 remain.

Okay I'm done with my less then pithy commentary. It's been a busy work week and I need to get back to it.

Something new on the ballot

I'd like to talk about electoral reform, but not right now. I think there will be a lot more news in the coming weeks. For now I will leave you with this.