April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

Liberals

An Open Letter to Dalton McGuinty

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Dear Mr. McGuinty,

My name is Devon. I am a 12 year old girl attending elementary school in Ontario.

In the past election you said your government would be best for education.

I recently watched this video, Writing on the Wall, by the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation.

I don’t think that schools should have to be in a draw to get books for kids.
School libraries should never get like this, the classrooms should never have only four textbooks for everyone in the class.

According to the video 38% of Ontario’s grade 3 children fail the standard reading exam.
The school library is the most important way to learn how to read, get up-to-date info for assignments and research and to get books to read for fun.

Four textbooks per class is not acceptable, it’s not a very good way to learn and get an Education.

Sometimes schools in rich areas can get books by donations from parents and bake sales, but poorer areas can’t do this. And bake sales are a bad way to budget for books anyway.

I hope you will take this seriously and that you and your government will do what you said about being best for Education. You can start by giving enough money to schools for libraries and textbooks.

Sincerely

Devon S.

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child readingI would also like to let everyone else know more about the video

you can find it on this page

Also there is a pdf with a letter to send to the Minister of Education in your province.

Please take this seriously. We are too young to vote. But our lives will be much poorer if we don’t get books and textbooks. Without them our education will suffer, and we won’t have much hope for the future.

We need adults to stand up to government and demand that they put our education first.

Anger, Resentment & Politics

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The world needs anger. The world often continues to allow evil because it isn’t angry enough. ~Bede Jarrett

Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight. ~Phyllis Diller

In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer. ~Mark Twain

Life has intervened lately on my ability to read and/or blog as often as I would like. However, I have reached a state of anger and resentment of the whole political process that I simply must vent.

It would appear that the concept of democracy has all but been lost.

The current Harper Government™ seems to have confused being elected by a modest number of people with absolute right to mob rule. Further evidence of the need to reframe our current process. The lack of will shown by the other parties to partake in any form of fight against this Bush wannabe is an outrage. They are all, as modern day Nero’s, fiddling while all our hard won rights and cherished freedoms burn.

Speaking frankly as a voter, a citizen, a woman, A CANADIAN, I really don’t give a rat’s furry ass how your poll numbers look. Want better poll showings? DO SOMETHING! SAY SOMETHING!

Prove you are there to do more than warm seats and gather pensions.

Scattered Scribblings

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A May/Dion romance:

An interesting way to do politics. Deprive people of the right to vote for all parties. Work out backroom deals in the front room thereby pretending it is something other than what it is. Pretend it is visionary and slur all detractors with the indefensible partisan label. While the thing itself smacks of all that is wrong with politics, the spin is genius. [Read more…] about Scattered Scribblings

Liberal MPs serve libel notices against The National Post

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Press release from the Liberal website;

March 23, 2007
Kennedy, Bains, and Alghabra serve columnist Kay, publisher and John Doe source

Toronto, ON — Former Liberal leadership contestant Gerard Kennedy; Navdeep Bains, MP for Mississauga – Brampton South; and Omar Alghabra, MP for Mississauga – Erindale, served the National Post, columnist Jonathan Kay and related persons with notices of libel over statements that the three politicians were involved in deals to exchange votes in return for changes to national security policy.

Included as a defendant in one of the notices is John Doe, representing the anonymous source cited by Mr. Kay in his column published in the National Post February 27th, 2007.

“Mr. Kay has suggested criminal conduct on the part of Mr. Kennedy. This suggestion is false and defamatory. The situation is particularly aggravated by the fact that Mr. Kay’s article is based on the information of a source whose identity, motives and credibility have been concealed. We look forward to exposing Mr. Kay’s anonymous source so that Mr. Kennedy may be fully vindicated,” said Mr. Howard Winkler of Aird and Berlis, LLP, lawyer for Mr. Kennedy.

The conversations involving Mr. Bains related as fact in the column never took place, according to the notice prepared by Julian Porter, lawyer for Mr. Bains.

“In his notice of libel, Alghabra denies his political and policy decisions are driven by his ethnicity and that he knew of and condoned the vilification of Bob Rae and Arlene Perly Rae, at the Liberal leadership convention,” stated Cliff Lax, counsel for Mr. Alghabra.

“We have enormous respect for the role of the media,” says Kennedy, “but these are equally very serious and completely false statements that if left alone would mislead the public and distort public debate.”

The service of a libel notice is the first step in a defamation suit.

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There is also a story regarding this in today’s Globe and Mail.

And here is a little background on the smear on Bains

It is absolutely right and appropriate that these types of smear jobs be acted against. It represents the absolute lowest in both politics and journalism.

One would expect that a serious journalist would have too much respect for their name and their profession to be bothered with such indulgences.

One would also expect that anyone serious about politics knows there are sufficient idealogical debates to made within political spheres, and real gaffes with which to leverage advantage. Innuendo and baseless rumour mongering is the modus operandi of those who have nothing else with which to make argument.

Enquiring minds sorta want to know

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There has been alot of talk about the NDP being dead, no longer with us, nailed to the perch….

So why then the constant flapping of silly gums about various ads, who said what to whom about dirty dancing…er merging with what party et bloody boring cetra.

If the NPD is dead and no threat why bother with the Minister Ministry of Silly Walk Talk about them?

Seems to me time would be better spent finding a way to get Harper de-elected.

Once more with feeling

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Psychols has a post today wondering if PB members are willing to put the progressive where their mouth is, so to speak.

I’ve been wondering the same thing.

PB membership is well over 300. I’ve posted about the petition to save the Community Access Program and currently sigs stand at 73. This is from a wide range of places.

So do people like to talk about progressive more than they like to act upon it?

Perhaps you need a reason to vote. Well if you are a social democratic (philosophy not party) you can go to the site and read about the success stories of various CAPS centers. Then vote so there can be more.

If you are a partisan of any party other than the conservatives you can consider it a vote against Harper.

If you are a partisan Liberal consider it a vote to save a Liberal program from the ravages of Harper government.

I’m putting my faith in you to act upon your progressive values and help save a low cost, extremely important program.

Website here

Petition here

Please pass this link on to all your contacts!

Lets build upon the momentum of success through perseverance that Verbena and liberal catnip have shown us.