So, any of you Americans following Canada's election?

[HEyHEY]

Just kinda wondering....

[gordonlamb]

1. nope.

Keep us posted I guess. Good luck with whoever you're rooting for!

[ClayZ]

2. I have PTSD from our elections!

Now we are watching IRAQ elections :hide:

If yours are going well, come down here and make sure we get ours right too!



PEACE!

[strategery blunder]

3. I really should actually make the effort to FIND info on Canada's election

Because we all know the media down here in the States only reports on Canada if it involves SARS, or occasionally, softwood lumber stuffed somewhere.

How sad that I know more about the U.S/Canadian lumber dispute than the state of your political system. Forgive me, please!:cry:

[politicat]

4. yep.

Because I envy you your parliamentary system.

Where does the term Grit come from, anyway?

[LibertyorDeath]

5. The Clear Grits

Clear Grit Party. The name "Clear Grit" was applied in 1849 to a group, or wing, of the Reform party which was dissatisfied with the moderate policies followed by the Baldwin-Lafontaine administration, and particularly with its failure to deal with the questions of the Clergy Reserves, judicial reform, and financial retrenchment. The origin of the name is attributed to David Christie, who is reported to have said that only those were wanted in the party who were "all sand and no dirt, clear grit all the way through". The chief figure in the group was Peter Perry; and in the spring of 1850 it was estimated that the number of Clear Grit members in the House of Assembly was 22, or two-fifths of the total number of Reformers. The opposition of the Clear Grit group brought about in 1851 the resignation of Robert Baldwin, and in the reorganization of the government under Francis Hincks the division in the Reform party was partially healed. When the Hincks-Morin government was defeated, however, in 1854, and the MacNab-Morin administration was formed, the Baldwin Liberals were persuaded to support the new government, and the Clear Grits of Upper Canada and the parti rouge of Lower Canada remained alone in opposition.

The Clear Grits became supporters of George Brown, and were the nucleus of the Liberal party in Ontario in later times. Thence comes the common use of the term "Grit" as a colloquial synonym for "Liberal".

http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/QuebecHistory/encyclopedia/ClearGritParty-ClearGrits-CanadianHistory.htm

[Peace Patriot]

10. I like it! I like it! Liberals have true grit! Call us the GRITS!

All sand and no dirt, clear grit all the way through. And (U.S. meaning), tough, courageous, persistent, principled, and full of heart. That's us liberals! True Grits!

Whereas, falsely named "conservatives" are corrupt, greedy, cowardly, hypocritical parasites.

[Swamp Rat]

6. Update us.

Please. :)

[KitchenWitch]

7. I like your new graphic

That is gorgeous!

[Swamp Rat]

8. Thank you

I am in no mood for the other stuff, especially since it looks like no one will (or knows how to) help us save New Orleans.

I just finished this one:

[KitchenWitch]

9. The whole situation makes me ashamed

I am ashamed of how our government, and the aid agencies have handled the Katrina disaster.

:cry:

[ClayZ]

12. fleur de lis

inside of peace! Nice!

[Swamp Rat]

15. Thanks!

Join me in flooding Washington! Louisiana groups have launched an effort to generate 300,000 e-mails demanding category 5 protection for New Orleans and Southern Louisiana. That means effective levees and flood control projects as well as comprehensive coastal wetlands restoration to give Southern Louisiana a critical storm buffer. Please take a second to help spread the word!

Take action now at http://www.democracyinaction.org/GRN/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1521

[ClayZ]

16. Done

Did you see this?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2307220


Daily Kos makes a good case for Defense Depart money being funneled straight into GOP PACS in this
article:

[Peace Patriot]

11. Please fill us in on Canadian elections. We need to know how...

...democracy works. For instance, honest vote tabulation. Paper ballots, hand-counted in one day, as I understand it. Please reveal the actual basis of Canadian democracy--the mechanics, how it works, people being involved in the counting, people being able to see it happen, seeing their votes actually counted, and how ballots are protected and reported, how long you hang onto the paper record, etc. We need to be reminded how it's done. We need to remember. It wasn't so long ago that we, too, had democracy--transparent elections, honest vote counts, public participation, public vigilance over our rights. And we also, as recently as the 1970s, had a LIBERAL democracy, with government policy aimed at the common good, a strong middle class, good schools, decent programs for the poor, a more "level playing field," and a president and a congress that reflected the majority's revulsion at unjust war, at covert violence against other countries, and at pork-barrel military budgets. We need to remember what it's like when the people ruled.

Give us detail--not just on the "horse races" or what pundits are saying. Also, what are the rules that candidates operate under, and how have these rules been made to conform to the greatest public good? With honest vote counts, it would seem to me that control over campaign contributions by corporate interests and the rich would follow (unlike our filthy political system), and also controls on TV ads, lengths of campaigns, lobbying, lying (doing filthy, slandering hit pieces at the last minute--a signature of Bushite campaigns here), and other techniques of manipulation and propaganda. What rules have been laid down? What is the news media's role? How do you manage democracy in general? What's it like to experience democracy? How does it look? How does it feel?

[JVS]

13. Is the Bloc Quebecois doing well?

[hopeisaplace]

14. eh, from Canada here

Hi, am following of course. Voting liberal.
The situation in US (that's putting it mildly) has caused me to loathe the word "conservative".
Any party "to the right" can kiss my royal canadian track pants.