Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Did you join the NDP after Jack Layton's death? You might not be eligible to vote for the next leader.

I just noticed on the NDP's website the early and late cut-off dates that one must obtain an NDP membership in order to vote for the next leader of the federal NDP.  While all those who want to vote for the next leader must obtain a membership by February 18, 2012, NDP membership holders will have had to obtain their memberships after different dates depending on the province or territory where they live.

From the NDP website: http://leadership2012.ndp.ca/convention/how-vote
  • Individuals who take out memberships on or before February 18th 2012 are eligible to vote in Leadership 2012.
  • See the chart below for the membership cut-off date in your province/ territory. You must have joined or renewed your membership AFTER the following dates:
  •  
  • Newfoundland and Labrador September 15th, 2011
  • Prince Edward Island January 1st, 2011
  • Nova Scotia October 1st, 2011
  • New Brunswick February 18th, 2011
  • Quebec February 18th, 2011
  • Ontario September 15th, 2011
  • Manitoba September 1st, 2010
  • Saskatchewan September 15th, 2011
  • Alberta September 1st, 2011
  • British Columbia February 18th, 2011
  • Yukon November 20th, 2010
  • Northwest Territories February 18th, 2011
  • Nunavut February 18th, 2011

I live in Ontario.  I also signed up for a membership on August 24, 2011 just after the death of Jack Layton.  According to the membership sign-up requirements, I will not be eligible to vote unless I choose to renew my membership.  Since I signed up for a membership 23 days too early, I will not be eligible to vote.  I hope that the party will rectify this situation as I may choose not to renew my membership out of principle.  There may be a few members who may suddenly realize that they will not be eligible to vote if they joined the party a few days too early.
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

And here's to you, Attawapiskat

And Here's to You, Attawapiskat
[Sung to Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson]


And here's to you, Attawapiskat

Harper loves you more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)

God bless you please, Attawapiskat

Harperland’s a place for those who pray

(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)



I'd like to know a little bit about you for my files

I'd like to see you learn to help yourself

Look around you, all you see are lazy eyes

Stroll around the cruddy shacks that you call home



And here's to you, Attawapiskat

Harper loves you more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)

God bless you please, Attawapiskat

Harperland’s a place for those who pray

(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)



Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes

Put it in your mind that is far away.

It's a little secret, just the ‘Wapiskat affair

Most of all, you've got to hide it from the kids



Coo, coo, ca-choo, Attawapiskat

Harper loves you more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)

God bless you please, Attawapiskat

Harperland’s a place for those who pray

(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)



Sitting on a sofa on a Sunday afternoon

Gonna watch the candidates debate

Laugh about it, shout about it

When you've got to choose

Ev'ry way you look at it, you lose



Where have you gone, Attawapiskat

A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (Woo, woo, woo)

What's that you say, Attawapiskat

Harperland has left you, gone away

(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)
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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Participate in my federal NDP leadership rank ballot poll

Watch the federal NDP leadership debate on CPAC or on the NDP website at 2 p.m. Eastern or 11 a.m. Pacific.  At anytime, particpate in my rank ballot poll at Demochoice NDP2012NPD. Rank your preferred choices 1, 2, 3, and so on.  Vote once every hour if you wish.  The results will accumulate until March 24, 2012.  You don't need to be an NDP supporter to vote.

Vote here.
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Saturday, November 12, 2011

It's time to drink some liquid Ajax down my anti-Semitic throat

Related blog post: We are anti-Semitic Slime (The Skinny)

Thanks to an anonymous commenter who decided to leave me this kind message (I left out his name and family affiliations):

What about the Jews of Iran,Syria? You are a bastard!

Skip,or Skinny1,or Skinny Dipper-you are a punk and a vile prick!

Here's my menu for you Skinny Dipper:

Soup of the day: cream of raccooon and moles in Ajax and milk of Magnesia with garlic scented moose piss!!

Salad: Pokeweed and ergot,with mice droppings in bear crap with munchee cheese and arsenic!!

Dinner: pan fried roasted wolverine and marmot with skunk cabbage and stuffed with rancid Kommodo dragon crapula!

Dessert: 400 pound Bengal Tiger and Tasmanian Devil pie,with chokecherries and chocolate flavored Elder Berries! Wine: Canada Moonseed and TNT! Unholy BASTARD!

The commenter did decide to delete this comment and offer me a more subdued one.  I wished him an enjoyable Sabbath today.
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Sunday, September 25, 2011

The Ontario election is over for me

I would like to thank Forum Research for confirming that my vote will not count in the upcoming Ontario non-democratic election.  I have tried to estimate the possible margin of error through the use of an automated telephone push-button poll.  I have concluded that my candidate and party will have no chance in winning my riding where I live.  Therefore, I will not be voting in the Ontario provincial non-democratic election.

Interactive Toronto Star Greater Toronto Area map using Forum Research data: http://www.thestar.com/staticcontent/1058980
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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Toronto Star: Hudak blasts McGuinty for school ‘credit mills’

Had John Tory and his provincial Conservatives formed the government after the last Ontario election, they would have introduced funding for private religious schools.  Heck, anyone would have been able to start up a private religious school by placing a Christian cross, Star of David, or Muslim crescent on the front door.  We would have ended up with more credit mill private schools.  Remember that Tim Hudak supported John Tory's proposal to provide funding for private religious schools.
Toronto Star link
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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Ontario Liberals would double teacher education time

If the Ontario Liberals win the provincial election, they state that they will require Ontario universities to provide two-year teacher education programs instead of the current one.  Included in an extended program would be more practice time in the classroom.

More professional learning by future teachers is very worthy.  An extended program could include working with students with exceptional needs (Special Education students), English Language Learners, plus a few extra electives such as Multicultural Education, Media, Reading, Writing, Kindergarten, advanced Physical Education, Music, and French.  The universities would love to offer extra courses as they would be able to charge full tuition to second year Teacher Education students.  Currently some school boards and unions charge reduced rates to their members to take equivalent Additional Qualification courses.

Student teachers could spend more time in the classroom through practicuums.  However, some school boards such as the Lakehead Public School Board can only take so many student teachers as it is a relatively small school board.  Lakehead University has a lot of candidates who require teaching placements.  Many candidates go to school boards outside Thunder Bay in order to gain practical experience.

If people were required to complete a two-year teaching degree, expect them to receive a Master of Education degree.  That would mean every new teacher would be starting at the highest rate of pay for a first year teacher.  Expect fewer teachers to take extra Additional Qualification courses since there would be little incentive to take these courses without respective pay increases.  This may seem selfish.  However, teaching is a profession where few people go into higher level positions.  Yes, teachers will still take daily workshops.  However, the costs will need to be paid by their school boards.

The Ontario Liberal news release mentioned that people in other countries spend more time in teacher education programs than Ontario's one-year education programs.  Ontario does have four-year teacher education programs that include courses in non-teaching subjects.  The Liberals did not mention how the programs in Japan, Finland, and Singapore were designed.  They also didn't mention that while Finland does well in the not mentioned PISA standardized tests, it does not conduct internal standardized tests like Ontario does with the EQAO's.  The PISA tests are given at random schools. I have seen sample question which require more creativity and critical thinking than do the EQAO's among those taking the tests.

If the Liberals extend the teaching program to two years, this may prevent poorer but highly educated Ontarians from going to university to get a teaching degree.  I have been supply teaching for several years.  I have learned more about teaching through my practical experience than by taking extra courses.  Yes, these courses do help me with my teaching.  However, they improve my ability to teach by a small margin.  My practical experience has made me into a much better teacher.  I have learned how things work or don't work in different classrooms.  An extra year of a teacher education program would have marginally helped me and the students that I teach.

Doubling Teacher Education
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Don't cry for me, Christy Blatchford

Here's comment about Christy Blatchford I left on Warren Kinsella's blogsite:

I couldn’t agree with Ms. Blatchford more. Come on! Think about those police funerals which seem to get larger every time there are media cameras around. I have to watch the 24 cop funeral news channels every time a cop gets shot or killed in some other way. I hate seeing all those flags a half mast for some dead cop. Thankfully, the cop shops don’t have their flags at half mast for Jack Layton even though he is going to receive a state funeral.

[Maybe] Blatchford doesn’t want to see Canadians cry incessantly for Jack Layton like North Koreans mourning their Great Leader, Kim Il Sung. She didn’t like the poetic crap that Jack Layton wrote in his letter to Canadians. Personally, I wasn’t too fond of Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Get real! And what was Gandhi doing prancing around half naked in India? Trying to gain independence for India from British rule? How about that terrorist-socialist-commie-thug Nelson Mandela? Upon his release from prison, he helped destroy South Africa with those bloody vuvuzelas!

The Honourable Jack Layton’s state funeral will be taking place in downtown Toronto this Saturday. There will be plenty of police officers around making sure that there is ample security for Canada’s leaders who will be present. [Those leaders] include Stephen Harper and Dalton McGuinty. With all those police officers in downtown Toronto this Saturday, I recommend that those who wish to mourn the loss of Jack Layton do so in front of their cop TV news channels. If they really need to be downtown, they can get together in the mourning zone behind Queen’s Park. I’m sure Christy Blatchford would agree.
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Monday, August 22, 2011

Layton's letter--Wordle version

Wordle: A Letter to Canadians from the Honourable Jack Layton
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Saturday, August 6, 2011

Her Majesty’s Loyal Leader of the Opposition

Rex Murphy, His Majesty's Loyal Conservative lapdog, commented about interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel's status as oppositon leader.  If some Canadians are upset about her status as Her Majesty’s Loyal Leader of the Opposition, then we can always get rid of the "Her Majesty's Loyal" by getting rid of the monarchy and making Canada into a republic.
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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Jack Layton's choice

Did Jack Layton make a mistake recommending the appointment of Nycole Turmel as interim leader? Her status as a former Bloc Quebecois party member may not cause concern within Quebec. However, outside Quebec, her recent switch from the Bloc to the NDP will cause discomfort to those who question her Canadian identity even though she calls herself a federalist. Also, until today, Mme. Turmel was a member of the Quebec Solidaire party that is supposedly lukewarm to Canadian federalism. Her membership in this party would be akin to an interim NDP leader from Ontario having a membership in Tim Hudak's Progressive Conservative party. The optics do not look good. Only in a couple of provinces is it OK to be a member of two different parties if they share similar poliical leanings--for example in British Columbia, the federal Conservatives or Liberals and the BC Liberals. Because of Mme. Turmels's recent past affiliation, Mr. Layton made the mistake of recommending that his caucus appoint her as interim leader.

Next, Jack Layton made a mistake in recommending the appointment of a neophyte as leader. While Nicole Turmel has plenty of experience in her leadership position with the PSAC union, a parliamentary leadership position requires an understanding of how Canada's parlamentary institutions actually work. He should have either recommended someone with more experience in parliament or just let the caucus members decide on their own. The fact that he recommended Mme. Turmel's appointment meant that his caucus had no choice but to approve his recommendation or else the NDP MPs would have had to question Mr. Layton's leadership. The caucus could have instead quietly chosen a more experienced MP who did not have recent Bloc baggage.

Finally, Mr. Layton is going through another battle with cancer. I wish him well, and I hope that he recovers soon. However, Mr. Layton should have done the honorable thing by offering his resignation as leader to his party. The NDP cannot afford to have an interim leader on-and-off over the next four years. The party needs a strong leader who can get the party ready for the next election within four years. It cannot afford to have its tires spinning in the snow (even though it is summer).

I wish Mme. Turmel well in her position as interim leader. Not only will she need to demonostrate that she is a strong federalist, she will need to show Canadians living outside Quebec that she is a proud Canadian. Being a proud federalist and a proud Canadian are not exactly the same.  I remember the late Robert Bourassa, former premier of Quebec, stating that he was a proud federalist.  He had a difficult time stating that he was a proud Canadian.
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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Racist comments from Toronto Sun readers

Here is a sample of several racist comments and replies that come from readers of the Toronto Sun based on this story: 1 fatally shot, 2 wounded at carnival

 

Showing 1-20 of 266 comments



Showing 21-40 of 266 comments



Showing 21-40 of 266 comments

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