The Conservatives baked their bread now they can eat it

Snap! For aeons, the Liberals and the NDP have been in an adversarial relationship, fighting for the support of left-leaning voters (who are, in fact, the majority of Canadian voters). Because of this split, the (relatively) newly formed Conservative Party has been able to form 2 consecutive minority governments.

It was a miserable set up, and I had despaired that the Liberals and the NDP would ever be provoked enough to patch up their differences enough that they could form a coalition government. It would take some serious asshole manouvers on the part of the Conservatives for this to happen.

Luckily for us, Stephen Harper is just such an asshole. For the past few weeks, the talk has been all about Harper's new-found maturity and consensus-seeking in the face of Canada's bleak financial prospects.

Hah!

As Jeffery Simpson wrote in Saturday's Globe and Mail:

The miscalculations have been stunning. Mr. Harper's strategy has accomplished already the near-impossible: to bring the Liberals and NDP together.

He had so many other, less partisan options at a time of economic crisis and grave national concern. That he acted in this fashion, at this time, was enormously revealing. And very sad.

Missions accomplished! From the American Conservative.

the American empire gets a new set of temporary managers

(This post's title was lifted from Chris Floyd's most recent posting, "WIBDI: A Prism for the New Paradigm".)

Anyone who thinks that Barrack Obama is going to be less of an imperialist punk than John McCain (or for that matter George W. Bush) is seriously deluding themselves.

From Dennis Perrin:

I know all of the arguments and apologia. I see the cultural angle. I recognize the historical element. Still, none of this has swayed me to vote for or otherwise support Obama... I've actually read his proposals, listened to his statements, and separated all that from the soaring rhetoric that sends white libs to the ground, trembling with the holy spirit. Obama promises to be a competent manager of empire, expanding the Terror Wars abroad while fortifying the police state at home. He wants to give tax breaks to those making under $250K? Super. That seems a fair trade-off with shredding more constitutional protections while killing and starving more poor people overseas. Recall his supposed "surrender" on FISA? That was when his presidency was anything but certain, and he sided with the privatized state. What do you think he'll "surrender" next, once he's ensconced in the Oval Office?

Tuesday links

Test your eyeballing skillz. I got 7.28 (deep in the wrong side of the bell curve).


Economist blogger's Toronto tips for visiting business people. Choice quote:

Understatement and a low-key demeanour are looked upon with favour. You should avoid boasting about past achievements or hyping up a product.

Stretchware- A software application that runs in the background, periodically reminding you to do stop what you are doing and stretch. Suggests which sort of stretch to do. 30 day free trial.

Maps of the most famous trips in history.

A history of the development of the Google logo.