VintagePunk
Blue Crack Distributor
Right, of course. Certainly we in the U.S. have our fair share of tragic history of losing presidents in office. Been fortunate so far to not be witness to such things (though 9/11 certainly came close, because one of the planes was destined for the White House), and I hope I never am.
He sounded like a very cool guy. I'm sorry I'm only hearing about him now. I wish we had more people like that in our government here.
Okay, cool. Gotcha. Thanks for the detail and explanation-I think it makes perfect sense the way you discussed it.
Makes me wonder if that's how things would start to go if we had a legitimate third party here in the States. That could make things a lot more interesting politically. Is there any particular reason the NDP often lags behind the other two parties?
I'll certainly check him out more. You have me curious to learn more about him. I hope you guys manage to find someone good to take over from here-good luck
I'm curious about the scandals now
Sorry guys, ignore the politics if you want.
I think it's because while you guys have your right and left, we have our right and left and a little more left. Keep in mind though that our right is still probably way left of your right. But anyway...basically, our left votes are split between two parties, one that is actually left, and one that is a bit more moderate. Popular (but not necessarily correct) opinion has it that the very left party will bankrupt us while funding all the social programs ever (no one will have to work! We can quit our jobs and stay home and leach off of those who do work! I'll be lazy people nirvana!). This is not true. The NDP are currently running a very successful government in the province of Manitoba. Plus, I think anyone with any critical thinking skills at all can see that conservative fiscal policies DO NOT WORK. They achieve the exact opposite of what they say they will. the rich get richer while the rest of us...flounder.
I think a big thing in Canada with the third party is that people often voted strategically - in other words, voted for the party who would keep the disliked party out - and in leftist terms, that would be the Liberal party, to keep the Conservatives out. Even though I grew up in a strong NDP household, I did this myself, thought that anything to keep the Conservatives out of power would be the best thing, so I voted Liberal. Then the funny thing is, we had an election a year ago, and I was pondering who to vote for. The funny thing is, I gave up cable, don't subscribe to a newspaper, do all my reading online, so it's not like I have a huge media influence in my life. I remember discussing it with Sarah, and saying "okay, voting strategically is bs and a waste of a vote, I'm voting for who I actually want this time." And then within a week, the NDP candidate for our area came to my door. Had a 10 minute conversation with him, told him I was leaning toward him, and then by the end of the conversation, told him to put a sign on my lawn. I adore him, he's awesome, and just what we need. A social worker by profession, so he's in the trenches with people. He ended up coming a close second in our riding, but he's an awesome person, it was his first try and he's making a name for himself in the city, I have complete confidence he'll win next time. We've kept in touch via twitter and I've been to his office a few times...he has a volunteer card for me.
But anyway, the funny thing about not voting strategically, I feel like I was part of some mind meld, unbeknownst to me, because that little third party I decided to vote for, even though it may be a lost vote, ended up beating the Liberals by a LOT, so obviously other people were feeling the same way I was. And I think a lot of that had to do with 1) people being pissed off at the Liberal party, and 2) the leader of the party, Jack Layton, his message and sincerity resonating with a lot of people, all at the same time, thus making the NDP a viable federal party, all at the same time. He won the official opposition status by a LOT. Then 4 months later, he died.
It was the most amazing outpouring of a public figure I've ever seen. Wow. I'm really not affected by the death of celebrities, I didn't know them, but I was genuinely sad about this, still am. I brought my little guy some Butterfinger bites, but then he got in trouble so he couldn't eat them... sooooo.... *kicks dirt*
No, he is indeed very very sexy, but would probably be fairly suitable... single dad, Christian, good steady job...
No, I know this... well... manwhore. He's good looking, knows all the right things to do and say and sleeps with whomever he wants whenever he wants, and from what I hear, is very good at what he does
A U2 person?
)
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. I understand sometimes you have to go with the best option available, but yeah, if a dream candidate comes along that truly does express every belief you hold dear and they prove themselves to be the best candidate possible, why NOT go with them? So many people here in the U.S. refuse to vote for any possible "third party/independent" candidates because "they'll never win". No, not if you don't vote for them, they won't, you're right. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. 
! I clearly remember owning the second of the Now series (on CASETTE), and that one had "Sweetest Thing" on there, which I loved when I was younger-and that was a good 4 years before my hardcore U2 fandom!
:fuckyeah:
Just the train is going to cost me about 200 euros a MONTH to get to uni and back. And then tuition costs above that. Yugh. And they want people to study? Yeah, most people are NOT going to do that now.
You'd think that they'd make it easier on students trying to get to and from the campus. 
Dammit! 
Well pardon me if some of us have more issues and can't study sometimes. 
