iMatt :: The Blog of Matt Clare

Tommy Douglas, has won The Greatest Canadian competition. Who’d have thought I’d vote with the majority of Canadians? The other good news is that George Stromboloupolous, Douglas’ advocate and from MuchMusic and 102.1 The Edge is now part of the CBC and hosting a show called ‘The Hour’. Good news all around.

So, in honour of Tommy’s win, here’s his story of Mouseland. (A lesson on winning an election without using the words ‘keep more of their money’ but still talking about fat cats).

It’s the story of a place called Mouseland. Mouseland was a place where all the little mice lived and played, were born and died. And they lived much the same as you and I do.

They even had a Parliament. And every four years they had an election. Used to walk to the polls and cast their ballots. Some of them even got a ride to the polls. And got a ride for the next four years afterwards too. Just like you and me. And every time on election day all the little mice used to go to the ballot box and they used to elect a government. A government made up of big, fat, black cats.

Now if you think it strange that mice should elect a government made up of cats, you just look at the history of Canada for last 90 years and maybe you’ll see that they weren’t any stupider than we are.

Now I’m not saying anything against the cats. They were nice fellows. They conducted their government with dignity. They passed good laws–that is, laws that were good for cats. But the laws that were good for cats weren’t very good for mice. One of the laws said that mouseholes had to be big enough so a cat could get his paw in. Another law said that mice could only travel at certain speeds–so that a cat could get his breakfast without too much effort.
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Interesting entry in WikiPedia for McDonalds. Did you know in Canada we call it Rotten Ronnies (bottom of the page)? I didn’t know, but I’m about to start.

(… at a resonable hour.. say, 10)

When I sleep-in in this weekend, I’ll not only be getting back all that wasted energy from the week but be safe in the support of the Late Sleeper’s Bill of Rights.

Learn more here: www.drue.com/sleeplate/

Got the new U2 Album today. It’s really good. Songs that stand out right away are “Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own” and “Love and Peace or Else” – plus the Banjo based (Temple Bar Mix) of Vertigo on the DVD is also good

So when do they come to Toronto?

Viktor Yushchenko is apparently the real victor, but Viktor Yanukovych apparently rigged the elecetion to be the victor.

Canada could thaw out Alex Barris, from CBC’s Front Page Challange, to help figure out who the real victor is.

File beside “Two wrongs don’t make a right” “Two Viktors don’t make a democratic election”.

READ ADAM’S BLOG! (On the right). Quapos was hit with an Earthquake, waking him at 2:00AM to rush out of the house. I’m glad he’s OK, and now has quite the story.

Ralph Goodale announced today that Canada’s surplus is projected to be $8.9-billion.
Here’s how
The Globe And Mail has tracked the federal surplus/deficit over the years.

1991-92 -$32.3
1992-93 -$39
1993-94 -$38.5
1994-95 -$36.6
1995-96 -$30
1996-97 -$8.6
1997-98 $2.1
1998-99 $2.8
1999-00 $13.1
2000-01 $20.2
2001-02 $7
2002-03 $6.9
2003-04 $9

In one my first posts I expressed my interest in the right, and that I like to read about what the right is thinking. I think there is consensus that deficits are bad and there is a growing consensus that surpluses are bad too. The conservatices want the money for Tax cuts, the NDP etc. for child & health care and education. The point is the Liberals are taking in more money than they said they would.

Paul Martin started this policy of growing a surplus and using it ‘for emergencies’ and to use it, ultimately, to pay off the debt. I think it’s a bad idea for two main reasons:

1. The federal government should be planning for emergencies and BUDGETING for them, not explicitly not budgeting for them; not leaving money around just in case.
2. The Liberals (who have set the record on deficits and surpluses) are using this unallocated money for political gain, not for any good financial reason

By under estimating the revenue of the government the Liberals are ensuring that the government and the public are involved in allocating only the amount money the Liberals are willing to involve them in. In the end the surplus is a political tool used at the end of the year to spend funds for political gain.

Big surpluses are good politics but poor policy and certainly not good management of finances.

US election: Too bad. Enough votes for someone other than Bush but not enough for someone specifically. Old News.

What I want to point out is the number of people who have given up on an American future based on rationality.

We’ve finally got confirmation that Colin Powell is gone, [Canada.com] plus a few of this colleagues with lesser talent.

Here’s a survey from slashdot.org wondering Would You Move To Canada? from Friday October 29^th. Here’s the results

• Only if Kerry wins. 6% 3518 / 6%
• Only if Bush wins. 36% 19467 / 36%
• Only if Nader wins. 3% 1870 / 3%
• Only if there’s a civil war. 9% 5279 / 9%
• No, the idea of free health care frightens me. 10% 5827 / 10%
• No, but I’d bomb it. 16% 8625 / 16%
• Already live there. 13% 7135 / 13%
• Already live in Ann Arbor, which is close enough. 3% 1992 / 3%

Lastly, there’s the one that’s been making the eMail rounds: sorryeverybody.com You can’t find a full page in the gallery of Americans apalogising to the world where there’s not a Canada refrence.

So, Americans, here’s my recommendation: Move to NY or LA and pretend there’s nothing in the middle, buy all the West Wing DVDs and pretend that’s reality, or move to Canada. But in the end, we still have the same problem. That problem is best expressed by this site fuckthesouth.com.

As most people know, I sleep like a freight train: Hard to get going but just as hard to stop.

I few of you may also know that I’ve been supporting a class in our eClassroom that starts at 8:00 on Monday – which means I’ve been leaving my house at 7:00/7:15 every Monday since September. I did get the time back on Friday afternoons, but I’d still prefer the sleep. Perhaps the biggest hardship is that the Student’s Union coffee shop doesn’t open until 8:30 and I don’t have the time to line up at Tim Horton’s: I go caffeine free until 10:30AM!!!

No more! I’m sitting in the eClassroom watching the Education Pre-Service students do their presentations then they’re off to placements (or something) and after that another class. A full month earlier than the reset of the University’s schedule. At the moment there’s some talk that they may be back in the eClassroom, but they won’t be in here at 8:00.

Friday: Rich Couto came to Brock for a job interview (here’s hoping, but don’t settle for less $$$) and Jen Allen was down from Toronto. Herman and Janice made a party of five and we all went out to Frescos for dinner. After a brief stop at my place to make plans, we went bowling (and drinking) at JJ Caps on Ontario. Barb from ITS also joined us.

I’m not much of a bowler, but I tied Jen for the first came and came in third to Herman on he second. Bowling is actually a lot of fun, no wonder Fred and Barny and the rest of the Waterbuffalos bowled so much. I’m no Twinkle-Toes-Flinstone…. yet.

We finished off the night at Bean Tree ‘downtown’. I had the China Black Rose Tee, good dark and bitter taste. Janice and I watch the last 1/4 of the Raptors/Sonics game – it was point for point. Raptors gave it up in the last few seconds, after vince miss-handled a plan and then missed a shot. I miss hockey

Anyway, It was good to see everyone again, and I hope to see Rich & Jen again soon. For the sake of getting it in writing, I’ll be in Guelph this Friday night (the 19th?) and back in Toronto the weekend following.

Saturday —–

Today I got a hair cut, which should make those of you worried about the sloppy hair on the back of my neck happy. The hairdresser at THE Barber Shop said that the hair on the back of my neck was quite messed up, but she was very happy with her rescue work.

Now I’m at home finally watching the first Harry Potter movie. Did I mention I miss hockey?????
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