Do we really need a federal election?

One full month and a few days into 2008 and it appears that we will be forced to get up off our couches and go vote in another General Election. It has been 2 full years since Harper and the Conservatives were sworn into office on Feb. 6, 2006. The sky certainly isn’t falling, yet Dion and his Liberals just can’t shake the fact that they are indeed in opposition and not government. Dion should be careful what he wishes for. An election may just be the only thing that will seal his fate as Liberal leader. The only way for his largely divided caucus to get rid of him is for him to lose the election. Since being elected Mr. Dion has done nothing to ensure Canadians safety, he oppose tax cuts (the GST) and appears ready to invade Pakistan. You need only to watch question period as Michael Ignatieff looks to enjoy Dion’s lack of “everything” as he awaits his coronation as the next Liberal leader. Current polls show that if there were an election the seat count in Ottawa would likely stay the same. So why go throughthe hassle and expense. Mr. Dion should worry about the polling during the election campaign itself. During this period Canadians will have a better look at Dion and that may well swing the polling numbers in favour of Harper. Why don’t we just wait until October 2009?

58 Responses to “Do we really need a federal election?”

  1. ben burd Says:

    Amazing what political bases will do, I thought that it was Mr Harper who is engineering his own defeat but the Cons will see it otherwise. Perhaps if Steve can’t get Dion to take the bait with Afghanistan then there will be the budget and if that doesn’t work there will be the crime bill.

    The best idea I have read in the last week would be if the combined opposition were to adopt a Pearson gambit, introduce a motion declaring that the “confidence” declarations were not “confidence” motions after all.

    In another vein now that we have fixed election terms (by means of another bill passed by the government) surely an early election is illegal! Who will be the first to take Steve to court

  2. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    “Who will be the first to take Steve to court?”

    For what? Impersonating a dictator? Uttering threat after threat? High crimes of fishing-vest fashion? Shaking hands with a minor?

    I’m shocked -shocked I tell you- to find out politics has been going on here. Round up the usual suspects.

  3. Poetency Says:

    In the case of Liberals — Round up the usual slushpects.

  4. Martin Partridge Says:

    The driving force behind an election is that the cupboard is bare. Here are the monthly surplus/(deficit) numbers so far this fiscal year: $2,700,000; $2,600,000; $1,400,000; $900,000; $700,000; ($2,700,000); $100,000. You can confirm this on the Department of Finance Canada website. The bottom line is that in the last two reported months, October and November 2007, we have a net deficit of ($2,600,000). The number for December 2007 will be reported on February 18; if it is less than a surplus of $2,600,000 then the county will have spent itself into deficit for the 3Q07 period consisting of October thru December 2007. It is frankly astonishing that a government could turn a massive surplus into a deficit in a matter of months.

  5. Deb O'Connor Says:

    What discourages me is how hard it is to overturn the stereotypes about the right wing Conservative/Republican parties. Our tories have a reputation for being smart with money, and people vote for them on that basis, despite the appalling examples set by the Mike Harris gang in Ontario, and the Mulroney and now Harper governments too.

    If you don’t believe me, read your history books because what I say is true.

    Same thing goes in the USA - George W. Bush has grown the American deficit up to proportions never seen before. Could his tax cuts for the wealthy, along with his Iraq war, have something to do with that?

    Wake up people: you are being conned - AGAIN!

  6. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    The Conservatives were elected mostly because something like $200-million disappeared into the vaults of Quebec advertising agencies during the Sponsorship Scandal. We elected them to right this ghastly wrong.

    Meantime, how many kids are dead in Afghanistan? 78 isn’t it? See, money is the Conservative mantra and the Conservative mantra is money. So many Conservative Canadians care so deeply about money that human life gets lost in the shuffle.

    $200-million. What’s that? About a week in Afghanistan? Not that it matters….

  7. Poetency Says:

    “Meantime, how many kids are dead in Afghanistan? 78 isn’t it?”

    It is my understanding that the 78 were all above the age of majority and made a profound and portentous free choice - to join the armed forces and serve Canada at the risk of life and limb. It is also my understanding that amongst the 78, there are fathers and husbands. It is quite natural for anyone to use the fact that Canada has lost the lives of 78 soldiers to make or emphasize a political point, but it is quite another to mutate adult soldiers into kids in a cheap tactic to arouse sympathy.

  8. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    I’m not trying to “arouse sympathy”. I’m tryng to arouse awareness. Awareness that to a Conservative, money takes precedence over human life. For all I know (and perhaps you could inform me) Canadian grandfathers, complete with their new hips and Lasik-corrected eyesight are serving and dying in Afghanistan.

    I apologize for my ignorance as to the age group that usually does the fighting. It is clearly ageist of me. Obviously, it is impossible to be both a ‘kid’ and a father at the same time, isn’t it? How could I possibly have confused the two?

  9. Poetency Says:

    I stand corrected; it was a “cheap tactic to arouse awareness”

    “Awareness that to a Conservative, money takes precedence over human life.”

    Wasn’t it under the majority Liberal gov’t that Canada made the decision to join its NATO partners to oust the lethal lunatics in Afghanistan?

  10. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Yeah. Sort of.

    We’re in Afghanistan, in my opinion, by default. See, we didn’t want to go to Iraq. That in itself should have stood as the only so called ‘legacy’ Jean Chretein really needed. But, in order to add to our international stature, our NATO committment, our…our…our…forlock-tugging second-stringerism -we volunteered to help (a) in the hunt for some guy in Afghanistan who (b) seemed to be linked with al-Queada that (c) had something or other to do with the Taliban that (d) kept little Afghan girls out of school because (e) democratization was needed so that (f) rebuilding could occur so that (g) according to Gen. Rick Hillier Afghan women might be free to wear high heels (he said that at a Red Shirt Rally in Toronto -google it.).

    Cheap? Yep. It’s all cheap. Cheap as dirt. Cheap as the dirt our kids -er, young people, not so young people, older people, doddering people, one-foot-in-the-grave-people, seriously senile people, people with chrome plated walkers people, dental implant people and all the people fighting-for whatever-the-heck-it-is-they’re-fighing-for-people that are defending us from whatever the hell it is they’re defending us from. But by the blue Jesus -they’re not ‘kids’ are they? Nope, they’re as old as the blood stained dirt we sent them to bleed in. God love ‘em and God love how cheap life is -cheap as tha Wal-Mart mentality they’re over there fighting for. Cheap as the next barrel of oil. Cheap as a Highway Of Heroes sign. Cheap as a Tiawanese-made ‘I Support Our Troops’ bumper sticker.

    Cheap. Yeah. Cheap as us. Cheap as our small-minded need to think at the expense of the lives of others that we’re doing the right thing.

    And all you can do, in your own intellectually cheap way, is slag me for calling them ‘kids’.

  11. Poetency Says:

    I slag you for your inaccuracies. They are becoming more numerous.

  12. Deb O'Connor Says:

    Could we get back to the subject of this item, the need for and likelihood of a federal election? I will confess I slipped in the part about the likelihood of it actually happening, since I’m more interested in that aspect.

    What I am hearing in the media is that Harper wants an election ASAP, on the theory that once the Democrats take over the White House he will be somewhat isolated in his antediluvian policies with no support from the mighty USA.

    Meanwhile the Liberals are said to want to postpone the thing as long as possible, for the obvious reason that their leader is less than inspiring and could lead them right into oblivion along with the NDP.

    As for me, I desperately want to see the back of Mr. Harper and his gang of Neanderthal thugs before they decimate my country like the Harris tories did to Ontario. My only problem that I don’t see an attractive alternative anywhere. At this point, Michael Ignatieff is starting to look good, and that’s scary.

    What do the rest of you think?

  13. John Draper Says:

    It seems to me to be very simple. A minority Government can only do things that have a complete consensus and while that sounds good, we would not have many of the things we now value if it was always done that way. I’m thinking of Free Trade, Bill of Rights, probably National Health etc. Only a majority Government can take leadership and do things that are initially unpopular but turn out to be the right thing. There are of course exceptions - like Chretien who managed to do almost nothing most of the time he was in power! Clever politics but not showing leadership.
    To get a majority, there needs to be an election. That’s why Harper wants it. He does not really care about what happens to Republicans - his only interest in the U.S. would be the impact a U.S. recession would have on Canada.
    And Dion doesn’t want an election but many of his caucus do. When Dion loses, they then get their chance to put Ignatief in. Stephane Dion is hard to read - he seems honest but also very naive and not able to lead or run a country. To me, he’s the scary one. Maybe not what you wanted to hear, but that’s how I see it.

  14. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Have a look at Jane Taber’s piece in theis Morning’s Globe (Notebook. pgA8 Sat. Feb. 16)

    Mendelson Joe, artist at large, has sent 14X28 centimetre postcards, handmade by himself, to a number of MP’s. The cards read:

    “Stephane Dion Is Harper’s Biggest Asset”

    “Our country is in free-fall.” says Joe, “Harper will prevail unless Dion is replaced. Ignatieff belongs on Harper’s team. The Liberals are no longer Liberals. By default there’s only Bob Rae.”

    I have no quibble except with the Rae-by-default part. The NDP (in the last leadership contest) picked the wrong guy. It should have been Bill Blaikie -not Jack Layton. The Liberals (in the last leadership contest) picked the wrong guy. It should have been, oh, heck Dryden maybe. I dunno. The Conservatives in the last leadrship contest picked exactly the RIGHT guy -a true Conservative through-and-through with all the narrow-minded belligerence, blinkered sensibilities, Horton’s happy grey-worsted/blue serge Rotarian luncheon mentality true Conservatism implies. Conservatives in this country are going through their rebirth, their epochal deliverance. It is again 1959 and Mom’s jellied salad never looked better. Hope is on the horizon. Dief’s the Chief and God willing there’ll be a Bomark in every back yard -just you wait and see.

  15. Martin Partridge Says:

    Deb, I try to keep an eye on all sides of federal politics. For a very current view of what may happen soon, read Garth Turner’s weblog entry posted at 9:34 am today (Saturday). Garth Turner was elected in Halton as a Conservative but was kicked out by that party for being too outspoken. He now sits as a Liberal MP. Until recently he had seemed to be against an election, but his position has changed. His blog is at http://www.garth.ca/weblog/.

  16. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Would that be the same Garth Turner who, when serving as Brian Mulroney’s Minister Of Revenue, seized the photo-op moment and managed to get his smiling face all over the front of the tabloid press as he accepted a jar of pennies from a twelve year old kid who was so concerned about the deficit that he saved his small change up for months to do his part?

    It isn’t Garth Turner that scares me. It’s that kid. I often wonder if he grew up to become Peter McKay -or worse, Stephen Harper.

  17. Common Sense Says:

    Is there any one commenting in this thread that has perhaps been the recipient of Liberal patronage? Hmmm. I wonder who it is? Perhaps you all can guess. By the way Garth Turner was never part of Mulroney’s Cabinet. He was a Kim Campbell Minister.

  18. ben burd Says:

    Perhaps we should wonder who it is that is taking cheap local personal shots in this thread, a person who doesn’t use a real name, I wonder why? BTW stay on topic - the need for an election

  19. common sense Says:

    Facts are facts. When you have the truth on your side you will always be okay. Cheap shots are when someone lies about something or somebody in a hurtful and harmful way. Which when I last checked things out is the NDP way. For example that fellow in British Columbia who ran for the Liberal Party and was ruined by a false claim during the 2006 election by the NDP. The NDP have settled out of court and apologized to him. And how about Irene Mathyssen accusing James Moore of looking at porn on his laptop in the House when in actual fact it was a picture of his girlfriend at the beach and he was showing a Liberal Member his dog that was also in the picture. Those are examples of cheap shots. But the back to the need for an election. Nobody wants one. So why are we bothering with all of the banter. Makes for good gab I suppose.

  20. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    How come whenever I hear someone say -with the greatest of assurity- “Facts are facts’ that what I really I hear is Lee J. Cobb in ‘Twelve Angry Men’ pounding his fist and belligerently saying “Facts are facts…”

    How come I associate anyone who uses that phrase with somebody (like Lee J. Cobb in Twelve Angry Men) who wants to base their judgement on anything but the facts?

    Maybe I’ve just seen too many movies. Or lived through too many Common Sense revolutions.

    I dunno.

  21. Common Sense Says:

    Don’t be quick to suggest that I am of a political persuasion based on the Common Sense Revolution remark. I am a political observer who pays great attention to the issues that are important to our country. Perhaps you should look at my latest post. Maybe I should have used better wording than facts are facts. But truth is the key. I only suggest that we should stay away from lies.

  22. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    The best way to “stay away from lies” politically speaking anyway, is, in my opinion, to stay as far away from the right, Republican, Conservative end of the spectrum as possible. Oh, sure, there’s lies on all sides, no doubt about that. But lies from the right, well, that’s where you’ll find the wholesale bulk-bin of lies. Whoppers, nose-stretchers, half-truths, untruths, non-truths -you name it. Heck -they didn’t call him Lyin’ Brian for nothing, did they? What about them Weapons Of Mass destruction? How we doin’ on that file lately? And the Indians? Did we ever get them “…out of the f***ing park!” or not? Or maybe it was never said and the former solicitor general, er, lied under oath.

    See, leftie lies are generally more creative. They’re of the mind, the purest form of fiction. Things that never happened. Like Hedy Fry and the Prince George cross-burning panic. It never happened. She dreamed it up. Now that’s creativity. With leftie-lies you get your money’s worth. With right wing lies you get clumsy cover-ups of things that really happened. I call them cookie-jar lies. Caught red-handed lies. Bulk-bin lies.

    I much prefer the less harmful lies-of-childlike-convenience favoured by the left. They’re more entertaining by far. Nobody dies for a lie. Torture isn’t denied using lies. Nuclear reactors that shouldn’t be started up aren’t started up using lies.

    In short, with left wing lies, everybody lives to lie another day. With right-wing lies there’s just too much bloodshed for anybody to have any fun.

  23. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Oh, yeah….the need for an election.

    The ‘need’ stems from the government’s ‘dare ya! dare ya!’ attitude. If it takes an election every six months to reinforce the idea that they are in a minority situation, then I’m all for an election every six months.

    An election that would result in just about the same distribution of seats -a minority Conservative government- would almost certainly generate one or more leadership reviews on the other side of the House. It might even resurect the ghost of Dalton Camp on the government side -complete with ‘Keep The Chief’ buttons concealing the handles of the famous, fondly-rememberd long knives.

    So, there’s plenty of reasons in favour of the ‘need’ for an election.

    Besides, Stockwell Day deserves a second chance. Everybody does.

  24. Poetency Says:

    As a civilian who could care less about right, left, centre or far out, or Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Green, Plaid — there is no pressing need for an election.

  25. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Like….ever?

  26. Poetency Says:

    Currently. And for the foreseeable coming months.
    What “pressing need” other than that of party flacks and flotsam.

  27. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    How about an election being fought over just one central question -a question I find ‘pressing’. Life and death pressing actually:

    Should we remain in Afhanistan indefinately or get the hell out before we uselessly waste any more Canadian lives on an adventure so hopelessly stupid it was doomed from moment one?

    (Not that it ought to be asked in such an obtuse, legalistic manner, mind you. It would have to be simplified for most of the people of this country to grasp its full measure. But I’m sure we could agree on something, couldn’t we?)

  28. Common Sense Says:

    Based on most polls there would be just about a statistical tie. Isn’t that where we are now. Not really I guess since Dion has taken sides with Harper.

  29. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Apropos of not much I guess, I just heard on CBC that a suicide bomber in Kandahar has killed 80 people at an outdoor dog fighting show.

    My God -if we can’t even keep that place safe for outdoor dogfighting, what good are we?

    Election? I’ll vot for the first candidate that says something intelligent like “Let’s cut and bloody well run before our hubris rivals even that of the Russians!”

  30. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    If, like me, you wear a GBSD (Government BS Detector) around your neck at all times, you might want to tone down the sensitivity. I fully expect a flurry of jingoistic bumph from Wee Petey McKay, Rick ‘Scumbags’ Hillier, assorted fully-bilingual generals, Christie Blatchford, Christie Blatchford’s dog, Don Cherry, The Little Girl Down The Lane and, probably, Dr. Phil -about how “Canada is making a difference’ and (my personal favourite) ‘We’re winning.’

    Meanwhile, I do have some swamp land in Florida if anyone is interested.

    Get a load of where ‘making a difference’ is getting us:

    http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=315658

  31. Poetency Says:

    An attack against one is an attack against all. Canada belongs to the most successful lethal military force the world has ever known, NATO. That’s my gang. During the cold war the USSR respected MAD, the primary policy of NATO. It was all based on belief. Ever since the fall of communist ambitions, NATO has taken several actions that has diluted its perception power. Unfortunately, the world contains those who perceive this as weakness in The West, and they would have substantial evidence.

    Immediate withdrawel, waritis interruptus, would certainly send quite a signal. NATO would have a serious credibility problem about the cohesiveness of the alliance. Would this destabalization of NATO be minor or major?

    Anyway, why should Canadians care about the people of Afghanistan? Well, at least insofar as we value Canadian lives over any other lives in the world, why should we risk the lives of any Canadian for a nation of losers?

  32. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Because we can maybe? I dunno. You tell me.

  33. Poetency Says:

    Well that is one of your main arguements mr Christie. The people of Afghanistan is a bunch of losers and worth the risk of Canadian lives. Oh and that goes for all other peoples of the world also. We don’t need allies do we? The world can rest assured that selfish self-centred Canadians could care less about the perils of others. You tell me how you would go about weaselling out of Afghanistan.

  34. Poetency Says:

    erratum:
    “and worth the risk of Canadian lives.”
    should read:
    “and not worth the risk of Canadian lives”

  35. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    First, let me thank you for not putting the ‘bunch of losers’ comment you attribute to me in quotation marks. Obviously, I never said it. I think though, before I say anything else, maybe you should make it clear what other conclusions, surmizations, connect-the-dot-isms or other revelations might exist into which you may have read some connection, however tenuous, to what you think I might be thinking.

    Then, once that’s out of the way, maybe you’ll go for a little truth-in-advertising and modify your shadowy monicker to something a little more reflective of your posts. How about ‘poetic-licencee’? Got a nice ring to it, nes pas?

  36. Martin Partridge Says:

    You can learn all you want to know about Poetency, and more, by clicking on “photostream” here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8039250@N08/2236072700.

  37. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    I think that link might be down. I get an incorrect message.

  38. Martin Partridge Says:

    It’s the period at the end that’s screwing it up, so try http://www.flickr.com/photos/8039250@N08/2236072700

  39. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    No matter. I found it. Deep stuff at first glance.

    An unmistakable homage to the deep seated and lingering fears of the Cold War -replete with the subtlest of iconic popular culture references. I’m moved -seriously moved, I tell you- by the haunting imagry of that silver-suited emissary’s words: “Gort. Barrada. Nictou.” as the world stood still.

    You can hardly fail to miss it in poetency’s stirring message of world peace wrought through the pinhole lense of fleeting digital photography. I am in awe.

    I’m also late for breakfast. Are the bars open today?

  40. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Gee I miss Al Purdy….

  41. Martin Partridge Says:

    Now that Poetency has been identified as Wally Keeler, who can help us identify Common Sense?

    Btw, buried within Wally Keeler’s 65 pages of images are some fascinating Cobourg new stories and pictures featuring local names such as Louis Stover and Allan Lawrence. Worth a look.

  42. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Is ‘narcissim’ one ‘c’ or two? I can never remember.

  43. Poetency Says:

    On May 22, 2008, a statue of Al Purdy will be erected in Queen’s Park. It will be the first statue of a Canadian poet to appear in Canada, which formally displayed only foreign poets/authors; Canada is a singular nation that prefers to celebrate foreign poets, rather than its own. Note the following published Jan 18/88: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8039250@N08/2214577323/sizes/l/in/set-72157602803386074/

    One of my life’s highlights, was to share the lecture theatre with Al Purdy at Loyalist College of Applied Arts & Technology, Belleville, for poetry performance. That was trumped a few years later when I received a invitation from Canada’s greatest poet, Irving Layton, for an audience in his home in Montreal. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8039250@N08/2274186729/sizes/m/in/set-72157603254355623/

    Btw I had already identified myself as Wally Keeler in a previous thread.

    If the Afghan nation weren’t such losers, but instead displayed indications of being winners, more Canadians might be inclined to extend Canada’s current role in Afghanistan. The issue in that case would be the date of withdrawal; at what point would NATO decide that it should depart Afghanistan? The Afghan mission has the blessing of the United Nations. Canada is not an island unto itself — it florishes within the community of nations.

  44. Poetency Says:

    Thanks Martin, for the bit of publicity to the Flickr site. There remains some discordancy — I am currently uploading to that site which I will be using as a staging area for construction of a dedicated web site. I’m not a master of it, so it is slowly and clumsily being constructed.

  45. Poetency Says:

    11:26 am Martin Partridge provides the web page. Approx. 4 minutes later the astute anal lisp returns from Flickr to Cobourg Blog & declares: “No matter. I found it. Deep stuff at first glance…” pressing enter @ 11:32 am.

    The fast-food-like appraisal from the astute anal lisp can be rightfully regarded as more shallow than a dried-up river bed.

  46. ben burd Says:

    “Now that Poetency has been identified as Wally Keeler, who can help us identify Common Sense?”

    A very good question, in all of my time in politics common sense has had no bearing on the outcome of political decisions. In fact, or is it the truth, if the concept was rooted in common sense it had no likelihood of political success!

    But yes Martin, we should know who is posting as “common sense” if only for the facts

  47. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Wow. I’m “an astute anal lisp”. Be still my heart for the blessings of the laureate are upon me.

    How priveleged you were to share a stage with Al Purdy. All I ever got to do was get s**tfaced with the guy way back when CN crews out of Toronto (of which I shamelessly declare I was one) laid over at The Quinte. All I had to do was escape the hissing rads, descend to the grotto below (otherwise known as The Green Door) and there would be Al, chuckwagon in hand, 50 at the ready, in full blown contemplation of the -ahem- working man.

    If only I’d had the foresight to cultivate my ‘anal lisp’ back then, however astute it may seem to you -think what I might have become. Just makes me want to drown myself. In Roblin Lake of course…..

  48. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Who is ‘Common Sense”?

    I figured, at first, it was Gordon Gilchrist. Something to do with the complete lack of irony in the nom-de-net.

    See, nobody these days pick a name that actually indicates their social or politcal leanings, views, thoughts, or arguments-to-come. Mostly they pick the exact opposite. But Gordo, well, Gordo would go with the flat, the lifeless, the obvious -”common sense” would be perfect for The Laird Of Baltimore. But, and it’s a big but, there IS irony if it’s Gordo because not only does Gordo not ascribe to any kind of common sense at all, he’s completely nonsensical in all he does and says. He just doesn’t see it that way.

    So, it’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma folded over into a tortilla of indigestible processed cheese food. Or somesuch.

    I’m a tad peckish after that. How about you?

  49. Poetency Says:

    Common sense is just that — common.

  50. Poetency Says:

    Purdy was a juicehead
    when I was a pothead

    The relationship remained professional.

  51. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    There once was a poet named Wally
    Whose prose though never quite jolly
    Did ellicit by half
    The same kind of laugh
    That greeted his internet folly.

    (Yikes! Who let the doggerel out???)

  52. Poetency Says:

    debris from an overactive bland gland in hand

  53. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    “bland, gland, hand” -a poetry trifecta!

    With work like that how am I ever going to moon, june, spoon or croon my way into the hearts of millions?

  54. Poetency Says:

    Wow, another banality boner.
    I’m nominating you for the get-a-grip award.

  55. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    Aliteration will get you nowhere. And besides, I’ve got a mantle full of awards -all of my own awarding. And your mantle -that of the public scold- rests, as always, rather comfortably upon the broad shoulders of the poetic pedant.

    And what poet isn’t a pedant at heart, eh? Except maybe for Bullwinkle. “Thay there, Rocky, it’th time for Bullwinklth Poetry Corner!”

    “Oh no….do we have to?”

  56. Poetency Says:

    Poetry is Poetency
    — bumper sticker

  57. Daniel J. Christie Says:

    “I Support Our Troops” is a bumper sticker too. But for some reason whenever I see an “I Support Our Troops” bumper sticker I read it as “I Support Taiwanese Bumper Sticker Makers”.

  58. Poetency Says:

    I live one block north of Toronto’s Queen St W fire, and I can honestly say, without any racial overtones, “Well, there goes the neighbourhood.” It’s become a tourist destination. It’s quite the cavity — like an old toothless crone with one remaining stained front tooth left. Overall, the street now looks like a hockey player missing 2 front teeth. It’ll be interesting to see how it turns out in the long run. I miss Victoria Park — the greatest educational institute in town.

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