Thursday, January 31, 2008

OYL Beyond North?

I was perusing the OYL beyond slate website when I came across a bizarre rant in Latin. The page for the Northern Regional coordinator candidate is replaced. Replaced you say? By what, a silhouette, and 3 paragraphs of latin.
Well, some type of pig or dog latin. yes, that anglicized version of the Roman language, and it looks like Caligula did some editing to their website. Yes, Caligula went on rant and talked about destruction and a big fight of some sort. Anyone who can decipher this better than an online translator, please get back to me? But enough from me, here is the first paragraph.


Check this out, and put it through a translator.

orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas pulvinar, nisl et auctor laoreet, lorem nisi facilisis nibh, sit amet cursus nisi metus vitae dolor. Proin vitae dui. Integer eu lorem. Integer sit amet elit id est commodo feugiat. Sed euismod aliquam enim. Nunc porttitor condimentum eros. Vestibulum in nibh id pede malesuada luctus. Aenean molestie dapibus turpis. Nunc bibendum. Vivamus nisi tortor, varius facilisis, vestibulum non, ultricies ac, orci. Aenean ultricies arcu ac mi. Maecenas non pede. Proin placerat dolor. Donec pellentesque velit vitae magna. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Cras lobortis rhoncus tortor.

Thats the first paragraph, this is really confusing. I think either there is a mole in the Beyond, or they have some issues. But seriously, this is bush league, either find a candidate or explain why you don't have anyone running in the North. As a recently aged out OYL'er I find this weird. I know some of these people and they just aren't goofy or funny enough to play this kind of joke.
Thanks to James Bowie for enlightening me.



Friday, January 25, 2008

Don Valley west, why does everyone who doesn't win elsewhere want you?

What do Sam Bulte, and Deborah Coyne have in common?

They both lost in the last federal election, and now they both have facebook groups for them to run for the Don Valley West Federal nomination. To refresh your memory, Sam lost in Parkdale High Park, and Deborah lost to Jack Layton in Toronto Danforth.

I really hate to be a killjoy as both these women seem to be very qualified candidates, but I think it looks bad that we shuffle around people who lose election into seemingly winnable ridings just to get them elected. I prefer building riding associations around candidates, not parachuting them in if they can't get the job done in other ridings that they can possibly win.

It makes the party look elitist, that they can just push anyone onto the electorate, and feel that since the riding is Liberal, the public will vote for them. I believe in developing candidates that work together with their riding associations to stay involved in their constituency areas. Not candidates who move to another more winnable riding once they lose an election. I believe that if you lose, try again, campaign harder, meet more people, and sign up more members.

So on facebook I just see people joining groups for this riding, i have joined none. I really want to see if this nomination will be picked by the leader, or if it will be open and freely contested.

cheers
-Jamie

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Edwards, my choice.....

Looks like Liberals all over facebook are falling in love with a smooth talking man named Obama. I for one don't really care about the big spending sweepstakes to the south. But I am going to pontificate on why both Hillary and Obama are bad for the dems, and Edwards is the best choice.

The last 2 democrats to win the Presidency were not Senators.

They were not from the North.

They were Southern Governors.
There is no southern Governor running for the democrats.

The Democrats needs a Southerner to win. Al Gore came close, but he was the VP, not a Governor or Senator from the South. If our Southern ideological cousins make a choice, by this article it should be John Edwards.

Why the south do you ask? The South has a disproportionate of electoral college votes. And every past democrat president in the last half of the 20th century has needed the south to carry the election. Bill Clinton, Carter, and LBJ all used their humble southern roots to win elections.

The only man with these credentials is John Edwards, he has that Southern Charm, and Southern roots necessary for the job.

So Obama and Clinton, if history tells us anything will face an uphill battle, and their northern roots won't carry well in Charleston, Charlotte, and Memphis.

cheers
-Jamie