see, the thing is that the liberal & ndp platforms are almost the same.

ontario has a strange loophole: we have dental & drug benefits for people on disability (and welfare...), but not for people making minimum wage. so, it puts people in the difficult decision of having to lose their benefits in order to take a job. free market type economists have been pointing this out as inefficient for years, which is no doubt the actual reason the liberals are moving on this.

americans may be interested to know that the actual reason we have a single-payer health care is to attract investment. single payer is more efficient, and therefore cheaper for employers. it's a job creation strategy.

we're lucky to have a smart liberal party that is very, very good at economics - and willing to take on specific industries for the benefit of the larger economy.

likewise, these loans are toxic. the state needs to get rid of them before they start taking things down. cancelling the loans is not a loss of revenue, so much as it's a savings in administration. and, this is something the liberals have targeted, based on class - which is arguably even better.

so, from a distance it seems like this is populist, welfare state type stuff, but it's actually just the smart version of liberalism that is missing in action through much of the world. and, it follows that both wynne and horwath can take these policies to the banks and convince them that it's in their interests to move on them.

i don't think that the ndp can reverse the hydro one sale, nor do i think it would get to the crux of anything meaningful. the hydro problem is complicated; i've posted about it here before. but, the only meaningful things we can do, at this point, are actually to encourage an increase in total use [the basic problem is that the grid was built for electric vehicles, and they're not here - that is the reason costs are high], and try to nationalize some of these private wind farms, that are taking advantage of very good deals as a consequence of lower than expected demand.

when the situation is as it is, and the platforms are nearly identical, i'm tempted to stick with what exists. horwath is more likely to collaborate with notley on oil. and, i remain apprehensive about a so-called socialist party that has no union support; will they force cuts to balance the budget, as the ndp so often do?

but, horwath is certainly a better option than ford.

and, we may have to accept that.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-ndp-universal-health-care-1.4581129

this lesson applies as much to the conservatives as it does to the ndp. fluency is not important. roots are everything.

and, if you're outside the country and wonder why almost all our prime ministers are french? that's why: quebec is the most insular society in the hemisphere.

the liberals should be more concerned about a resurgent bloc than a resurgent ndp.

the ndp will lose seats in quebec....

again: it's not the hat. they won't even vote for white anglos.

it's going to be trudeau v. the bloc, whether anybody likes it or not. and, if the bloc is dead, trudeau will sweep.

there were only two issues in front of quebeckers to differentiate the ndp and liberals.

1) marijuana.
2) sovereigntism.

and, quebec voted federalist over sovereigntist.

it's probably not more complex than this.

so, why did layton get the break through? it was probably simply due to ignatieff's immense unpopularity, and the fact that layton had better bonafides than ignatieff in terms of being a quebecker.

quebec votes quebecker, first and foremost. layton was from montreal. i think ignatieff was from britain, or transylvania, or something...

i think an underestimated factor in the ndp's collapse last election was mulcair's position on the clarity act, and the general feeling that the ndp were bloc-light.

i know that the party attributed a lot of layton's success to this, but i don't think that holds up, either.

forget about jagmeet's funny hat. the ndp didn't fall due to the hijab issue - that's incoherent. and, if they don't address this, it's going to continue to drag them down long past jagmeet's imminent resignation.

once upon a time, in my life...

....i went bowling.

this record was actually really good live. he brought mike garson on tour with him. the bootlegs from the period are epic...

all i've ever broadcast is that i'm an insufferable loser that hates everything and everyone.

don't act surprised.

see, and i've long argued that secular groups need to step into this vacuum and help people out of the cult.

for, that is what islam is - a dangerous cult.

https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21738904-yet-even-land-free-apostasy-isnt-easy-number-ex-muslims-america

well, he can have the big bang. it's kind of more on his side of things, anyways.

but, i don't think that this other thing, evolution, is what he thinks it is. at all.

the bottom line is that theologians with funny hats have no business making statements about physics or biology. and what he says on these topics is essentially irrelevant.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-declares-evolution-and-big-bang-theory-are-right-and-god-isnt-a-magician-with-a-magic-9822514.html

great screen shots, huh?

not murdoch, but might as well be.

marshall mcluhan...that was the sex pistols guy, right?

no?

never heard of him, then.

love is suicide.

i've been on a corgan kick this morning, from gish to dusk, and i'm intending on carrying it forward to adore, at least.

the temperature is coming up, finally.

meeting people is actually very, very, very hard.

sorry.

maybe i should have watched meeting people is easy.

still haven't.

would have probably benefited from it...

i don't care about the "territorial integrity of india", as though it isn't a colonial stare created by racist british military fascists....

india should probably be a dozen different countries.

i've been saying for years that the tory media lives in a parallel reality, and that it is in desperate need of generational overturn.

i mean, i don't know much about the details of sikh self-determination.

but, i am, in general, in favour of self-determination.

because i'm a leftist. and we tend to favour that.

you're surprised, for some reason.

i read something about a bombing in the 80s in a history book, but i don't know the details, and it's hardly of any relevance to me.

i thought jordan peterson was the young turks guy?

no?

i don't care what he thinks.

i mean, does he think he's going to convince me that he's right?

i don't care if jagmeet singh supports autonomy and self-determination for sikhs, but would hope he's not entirely opposed to it. that would be kind of odd.

i don't carry about sri lanka or bangladesh, either.

the election is in canada, not in india.

i think jesus would be more like to present his image to her in the potato side of the weight watchers meal.

i noticed when i was at the hospital last week that oprah is fat again. you know that the weight loss is what her run is going to really be about. and, then she's going to upset the "body positivists".

stop appropriating the term positivism, you freaks.

this is just more proof that america is insane.

....the einstein-turing thesis.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/03/16/maine-resident-jesus-christ-sends-letter-to-oprah-is-it-the-sign-shes-been-looking-for.html

this is not a poll, it's propaganda.

"if it were a poll, it would have a margin of error of 2.5%...."

well, if it were a poll, maybe.

but it's not one.

if your aunt had balls, sir.

news organizations really need to stop reporting on propaganda as though it's science. but, it's the culture we live in right now, and the culture we need to change...

i'm not saying that this isn't accidentally right - and i'm not saying it's necessarily totally wrong, either. what i'm saying is that it's not a poll.

you would expect these online "polls" to skew all over the place, and that's ignoring the fact that there's no sampling in the process.

https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2018/03/17/ontario-voters-to-cast-ballot-for-doug-ford-poll-says.html

http://dsdfghghfsdflgkfgkja.blogspot.ca/2015/09/its-right-idea.html

are they smoking heroin?

listen: i don't and never did have anything in common with kurt cobain. i never idolized him. i was never even that much of a fan.

i'm too young, frankly. he killed himself when i was 13.

corgan & reznor. those were the archetypes.

i even kind of looked a little like a young corgan, who is part cherokee, before i went on hormones.

i have no interest in drugs.

i never had any interest in drugs.

i've never broadcasted an interest in drugs; to the contrast, i've been pretty explicit in my condemnation of them.

and, all i can report is that i feel sick, that i want to be sober and clear-headed and that i don't understand what anybody gets out of this.