Rally Ho! Experience a Conservative Rally.

Last night Conservatives rallied in Calgary.  I highly recommend attending one of these rallies when Stephen Harper comes to your town.  It's one thing to watch it on CPAC, another thing entirely to be there.

I've captured the essence of being there in this video.  I didn't cut any of the thunderous cheers and applause.  That would take forever and besides what is the point of an event like this if you aren't going to hear things that make you want to shout and clap.  I even left a lot of Jason Kenny's introduction in as well.  It deserves to be heard.

You'll see the view swap to a wide angle and the sound is lower about halfway through.  I had battery issues and had to switch to my backup device.  It still works though.  Harper is that good.



There are a few things you should know before you go.  Don't expect the Prime Minister to be precisely on time.  He's the Prime Minister.  He runs a country and a party and a campaign.  He arrives just when he means to.  It's ok if you are late.  You might have to stand though.  If you are really late, you might be standing behind a hundred or so other people standing.  It's all good though.  You're in good company.  Strike up a conversation.

You are among friends at a rally.  I'd never met most of those good people but I felt I knew them anyway.  We are patriots and active participants in democracy.  It's not enough for us to observe or click 'like' here and there.  The outcome of this election is our personal responsibility.  It's our job to put a face and a friendly smile to our important message: that Canada is the greatest country in the world on purpose.  That is our purpose:  Keeping Canada great through sound fiscal and foreign policy. 

We've seen some of the greatest global upheavals during Stephen Harper's watch and come out on top.  That's how we know Conservative principles can weather any storm and capitalize on every windfall. 

Harper keeps his promises and reaches his goals.  It's an easy sell.  We just need to get the message to enough people.  For that we kindly need your help.

I'm With Danielle Smith

I didn't see that one coming.  The Danielle Smith Party merged with the Jim Prentice Party.  I've thought it over quite a bit now and I can say without a doubt that I'm a supporter of the Prentice/Smith Party.

The PC Party?  WildRose?  No I don't really like either of those parties anymore.  Allow me to explain.

The Problem

There's a problem with the conservative insurrection in Alberta.  It's past due.  We had our window and that window is now closed.  Not just because of recent developments.

I've found it increasingly awkward to be pro federal Conservative and anti Alberta PC.  PC, CPC, and WR all fish from the same pond.  I felt it door knocking in Canmore recently.  We should not be fighting anymore.

The Federal election is coming this year.  Like it or not Jim Prentice is a Harper Conservative.  The two brands are inextricably linked.   I know this only too well.  I volunteered for Jim Prentice when I lived in his Riding.  Deepak Obhrai endorsed Jim Prentice and I also volunteered for Deepak and served in his EDA.

There just isn't any room for a conservative civil war in the next year, even if its only in Alberta.  We just can't spare the oxygen.  Trudeau is the biggest threat we have faced yet.  Martin, Dion, Ignatieff were not easy opponents, no matter what people might say in hindsight.  All of them are eclipsed by Trudeau.  We know it's not rational but the Liberals aren't appealing to reason in the next election.  It's an incredibly dangerous time for our country.  We can't afford this squabble between friends anymore.

I'm not talking about making up with Allison Redford, but with your neighbors and co-workers who all support Stephen Harper.

WildRose

Oh Wildrose.  You had so much potential.  The hated Allison Redford conspired with the left and the media to fatally destroy the WildRose brand in the last general election.   They exploited Wildrose's greatest weakness, social conservatives, and used them to unfairly smear the party that truly deserved to win.

It would take 10 years to undo that kind of damage.  A tough and thankless slog that would be.  Enduring the skills of Jim Prentice for a decade with only the hope that the arrogance and entitlement of the post Klein years would blight Alberta once again.  No thanks.

I didn't want to face that.  In a way I wrapped all of Alberta politics in a package in my mind and marked it "Do not open until 2016".  Perhaps the situation would change by then?  Yikes did it ever change.

Surprisingly, I think it changed for the better.

I was signed up for WildRose by two cranky geologists.  These guys resembled the critics from the Muppets.  They were exacting in the their standards and merciless with their criticism.  Of course, they got my name wrong on this supporter list they were drawing up.  That took years to fix, but I had a lot of patience for the WildRose.  I believed in the movement.  We had a mission to get Alberta back on track.  But I only really started to believe when Danielle Smith was nominated for the Wildrose leadership.

I put up signs.  I made calls.  You know the tragic story.  We'll never recover what Allison Redford and her leftist takeover cost us Albertans.  What a colossal waste and squandering of precious booming times!

Then those times changed.

The by-elections showed that people did not blame the PC Party but Allison Redford personally.  I wasn't really paying much attention.  I did however wince at the WildRose campaign slogan.  "Send the PCs a message!"  What message will they send if they vote PC?  Danielle Smith got the message eventually and here we are.

Progressives

I detest progs and their sugar coated lies.  I despise their smug self congratulating entitlement.  Justin Trudeau is your typical prog but so is Allison Redford.  Redford could not have done what she did alone.  There are people inside the PC party as liberal and corrupt as Dalton McGuinty.  We are on their side now.

That has to be the worst part about this move to the PC Party.  Thomas Lukaszuk said Allison Redford "is Alberta."  Doug Horner lied to all our faces about the deficit.  Dave Hancock led the plan to remove Alberta's plate slogan to punish the Wildrose.  On and On.  There was that clown MLA badmouthing our Oil Sands and such.  All these goons are still there.  All those back office leeches and schemers?  Still there.

It's going to be war when Prentice leaves.  long may he rule.

Jim Prentice changes a lot of things.  He's alleviated all the sore points the PC's have created when the scum bags ran the party.  I think the former banker and federal Environment Minister may have the exact skill set that Alberta needs to succeed in these challenging times.  I want to help him succeed.

Loyalty

The minute that any of us becomes a liability or an embarrassment to the party we are shown the door.  It doesn't matter who it is or how much good was done before.  Every party is like this.  Everyone should treat their political party like this as well.  It's only fair and should work in reverse as well.  Don't stick with a party because you're stuck with them.  If something better comes along you've got to move.  Its democracy.  It keeps the parties on their toes.  It makes the parties beholden to you and not the other way around.

I'm not going over to the PCs for Prentice even though I think he's pretty good.  I would have already jumped.  I'm going to the PCs because that's where my leader, Danielle Smith, is going.  Shes a smart and brave woman.  A lot of people see this as a betrayal but I don't.  I'll go where she goes.  PC or Alberta Party even.

Danielle Smith is being a leader.  She made a bold move.  A move that I couldn't even anticipate.  I respect that.  Smith and the others aren't going to wait quietly in a box until the coast is clear to attack Jim Prentice.  We are going to do everything we can, for ourselves, for our parties and for our province and country to defeat Justin Trudeau.  -and we are all going to need each other should we fail.

Tax Breaks for Families

I am so glad Stephen Harper is Prime Minister today.

Promises that were made in 2011 are coming true.  Sure they aren't exactly the same promises that were made but they have been adjusted and improved to reflect what critics have already said.

Of course the critics still don't like it.  Boo hoo.  Too flipping bad for you.  It's not an election promise anymore.  Its the government's tax policy.  It's going to be in my pocket, feeding, clothing, and caring for my little boy as I see fit.  These tax breaks are going to pave the way for little bothers and sisters for my little man.  The number of siblings he would have were always in doubt but I'm more confident we'll reach our goals now.

We want a large family.  Large by today's standards is 3 children total.  That's 1 to replace each of us and 0.5 added to the dwindling population.  Family is the fulfillment of our duty to our country and to mankind but most importantly it is the ultimate true expression of love and life.

The most important thing one can do in life is to raise children.  The daycare costs for 3 kids are prohibitively expensive.  We've been discussing at our kitchen table the idea of one of us becoming a full time Mom.  We would save in daycare costs but we could also take in a few kids from the neighborhood.  The income splitting program is suited to this idea exactly.  Who better to look after my kids than their Mom or Dad?    

The socialist parties don't see it that way.  They want me to wait in line and pay fixed rates that they decide that can change any time they decide.  They want me filling out forms and justifying my need for a space.  They want me to be exactly on time at a schedule they will prescribe.  They will fine me if I'm late.  They will give my child's space to someone who will bow and scrape harder than I would.  They will create shortages.   They will create unions of government nannies.  They will create strikes and tax hikes and fees while they use my own children as hostages.

FNU local #999

To hell with that.

My government has clearly shown that families are the number 1 priority.  They will be giving money directly to the next generation and the future of Canada.  These kids are the ones who will shoulder the burden for everyone's retirement.  Even if you chose to die childless, alone, unloved, and forgotten, you will still benefit from helping other families in the long run.

Why should people who choose a certain classic lifestyle be rewarded and not everyone else?  The answer is that producing new citizens is extremely hard and getting harder everywhere.  This is why the birth rate in the west is falling.  All the extra money for making babies is being appropriated by empty headed politicians for their own projects.

I empathize with people who aren't that enthused about this because it doesn't apply to them.  They want a tax break too!  Who doesn't want to keep more of their own money?  -besides limousine liberals.  Everyone wants a tax cut.  So Mr. Harper, give the people more of what they want.

The Dog That Caught The Car

Well Done CPC!  Well Done PM Harper.  Well done everyone.

1. EU Free Trade Deal
2. End of Long Gun Registry
3. Getting Canada out of Recession
4. Stopping the Coalition
5. Strengthened Military
6. Strengthened Laws

Great!

So what now?  Its a question I've been wondering for a long time now.  Years have gone by since the minority times.  I always trusted that the big brains in the high halls had some kind of plan.  

Its not that they weren't busy.  The EU Trade Deal took years of work to put together and it will take a few more years yet.  It's also a little boring not to mention practically in the bag.  People overwhelmingly support the deal.  There is so much support that even the usual liars are lying about supporting it.

Yawn.  The Base is bored.  We are the Dog that caught the car.  We want the thrill of the heroic challenges we faced down in the past.  We want to do the impossible again.  

In the absence of monumental goals what has filled the vacuum?  Senators and their chronic attendant scandals.  (if there was a 'spit in disgust' punctuation mark I would put it here.)  Like a creeping deadly mold the Senate corrupts all it touches.  That institution has resisted change for over a century.

Let's take down the Senate.  Lets do the impossible again and change the Senate forever.

In fact here is a list of desirable and impossible things the Party can get to work on:

1. Reform the Senate
2. Sell the CBC
3. End all supply management
4. Make a Taxpayer Bill of Rights 
• No combination of governments may require a summation of taxes over 50% of any person's income,
• May not tax naturally occurring molecules essential to life (a life tax)
5. A National Energy Corridor Act 
• to join all 3 coasts in specifically zoned energy corridors to facilitate the unimpeded transport of all forms of energy
6. Legalize Private Health Care
7. 
   

I'm leaving 7 blank.  What would you like to see?

The key thing is that the government needs to get on with it.  Make some waves and take some risks.  We don't need to wait for the election.  We won the election already.  Do it now.

Its ironic that being paralyzed in fear of the next election increases the chance of losing it.  Elections are unpredictable things.  No one should harbor any illusions of the real possibility of losing the next one.

Carpe Diem.

Conservative Party Convention 2013 Keynote Speech by Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Watch it again right here.




The world's best leader today and Canada's best Prime Minister ever!  Go Canada! Go Harper!

Media Party Retaliates with Attack Columns

I dispute the whole concept of Attack Ads.  The establishment punditocracy have fabricated the idea that any political ad that is critical of a rival is an attack.  It is no more an attack than any political column ever written by Andrew Coyne.

Coyne writes his opinions, and those opinions are always negative towards the Conservative Party.  In fact I don't remember him ever writing a kind word.  If he has he can't be much good at it, since nobody else remembers either.

"Attack Ads Are Political Deathstars But Their Target is Democracy" reads the title of Coyne's latest attack.  I know Attack Editors write Attack Headlines but they coordinate their attacks with Attack Hacks so that the Attack Columns shut down all thought and Democracy.

It has been widely shown that media in fact has a huge negative impact on the functioning of democracy.  They can tell a bald faced lie and then quietly correct it when no one is watching.  They do it all the time.  Think of Robocalls.  Think of Communion Wafers.  Think of Benghazi.  Think of Global Warming.  Even the Vietnam War was lost on television, not the battlefield.  

I'm not saying this should change.  I'm saying that a great amount of power resides in an un-elected and unaccountable media.  They don't just act irresponsibly with this power but with outright open malice towards one side of the political spectrum in particular.

Why didn't any of these media experts notice the positive things in the ads?   Can you not say anything about your opponents in politics?  They invented the idea of Attack Ads so you think they would have a formula worked out for how negative they can be.  What is the acceptable percentage of opinions related to the opposing party should be allowed? Is it 25%?  Is 51% an official attack ad?  How would you measure this? -by the second or by the word?  Do printed words carry more weight than spoken words?  What do images count for?  What does music count for?  I found the music for the latest ads light and comical.  The music was decidedly positive beyond any doubt.  Whats so aggressive about comedy anyway? 

The CPC ads weren't all that negative or even attacking really.  Mocking is the word.  But Coyne is downright nasty and purposefully so on a regular basis.

"-they are corrosive. Their intent is not merely to criticize, but to inflame. They’re not trying to provoke thought, but to shut it down."

Corrosive?  Does he read his own work? Caustic!  And where exactly did he divine the intent of the ads?  If Coyne actually does read minds he still lies about it.  He can't even imagine that the ads might have been made as amusement.  Why do people tell jokes Sour Puss?  Do you even know?

Anyway, even more grounded writers also seemed to miss the mark.  

Chris Selley thinks the ads contain a lie.  Trudeau is out of context when talking about Quebec we are told.  The fact is Trudeau put words into his father's mouth as if he approved of it.  Another fact is that it doesn't matter who said it, its still a stupid thing to say.  So where then is the lie?  Trudeau Junior is constantly invoking the Senior.  Constantly!  Even his letter to the Chinese asking for temporary workers mentions it.  He is Liberal Leader because of it.  Trudeau was telling that story because he was proud of it. Or is he just stupidly trampling his father's name?

Jonathan Kay, who is sometimes friendly to the CPC, wrote about the ads too.  The gist of the article is: "Is that all you got?"  Come again?  Were you expecting the Battle of Endor?  Yub nub!  The election is 2 bloody years away.  There is plenty of material and Trudeau is a gaffe machine too. You really think Truedeau's welcome card should have been an orgasmic explosion?  

Kay also says the adds are "lame."  Yes, there were no exploding spaceships and I don't think there are going to be any.  One Coalition Crisis is enough for a lifetime.  This is Canadian Politics after all and lame is actually good.  Nice and harmless.  We can all share the joke that is the Shiny Pony.

Just today we learned that Trudeau wants to get empathetic and cozy with poor murderous Boston Marathon Bomber.  At best its an unforced error.  Its what these ads are trying to tell people.  That is the intent of the ads: Jr. hasn't got a clue!

You almost get the sense he was pushed into it.  He was obliged to lead the Liberals seeing how low they are now.  Didn't his wife say it was his duty or something?  There are plenty of stories where the prince runs away to be something else.

Trudeau Jr. should have gone into entertainment.  Ben Mulroney has more sense than hapless Trudeau.  Ben knows full well that in politics he would have been in his father's large inky shadow for decades.  Shiny Pony invokes that shadow at every opportunity   Shamefully so.  There's no "did you know Ben Mulroney is former Prime Minister Mulroney's son?"  That never ever happens with the Dauphin.

Doubt of the Benefit

I'm trying to get my head around this story from Sun Media today.

Conservatives send congrats to Chinese communists

I don't get it.  Why would our president go out of his way to send birthday wishes to the Communist Party of China?  Ironically the acronym for both parties is the CPC.  Funny.

Is this a result of the recent security breach of the Conservative website?  Is it just Chinese propaganda?  Is John Walsh looking to make a spectacular exit?

If he really did write this letter then I suggest his resignation letter is soon to follow.  It had better be.

I'm trying to imagine what benefit would come from sending the Communist Party a birthday note.  There is no political benefit.  There is a substantial cost in fact.  Was there some favor owed or solicited?  Maybe he really doesn't understand what the heck he is president of and thought he was doing a good thing.

Diplomats I can understand.  Being nicey nicey to their evil hosts can only make their jobs easier even if its all crap.

This makes no sense.  I'm going to need an explanation.  I'm still a loyal CPC supporter but I can't in good conscience participate in a party who's president honestly believes 90 years of totalitarian Communist control is something worth congratulating.

Did you send the letter Mr. Walsh?  Is this out of context somehow?  I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt because I greatly doubt the benefits of this move.