Mike Ignatieff, Now You Know

[estragon]

what it's like to get one-bombed. I've been there, and please accept my deepest condolences. I feel your pain.

 

[rgraham666]

He deserved it. He let Harper paint a bullseye on him and then didn't start shooting back until way too late.

This is our version of the 2004 US election, and look how that turned out.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Even before Ignatieff the Liberals were running as a party without a platform. Those who wanted change looked for a party that did. Too bad we still don't know what the Conservative's platform really is, given that they have a majority. And they've always spoken of a majority as giving them the right to decide what everyone else should do. I think I'll send Steve a copy of deTocqueville as a congratulatory gift...

 

[estragon]

As I'm not a Canadian citizen (although a kind client offered to sponsor me if the US of A gets any flakier), I will avoid any comment on the substance of the recent elections. I just felt truly sorry for poor Ignatieff, losing his own seat in so complete a spanking (pun intended) that the BDSM crowd here could hardly improve upon it. And as I've gotten my share (with bonuses) of one-bombs, I just wanted to extend non-political condolences to Mike and the Grits (did I get that right?).

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Grits? Did someone say grits?

*sits down at the table*

Can I have some?

Is it freshly-made, spicy, cheesy grits? Yes? Then I'll take mine with shrimp, if you have it, thanks.

And as long as we're planning breakfast, can I have a Bloody Mary, too? I'll provide the jalapeno-spiced pickled okra garnish if you make the drinks.

As I'm not a Canadian citizen (although a kind client offered to sponsor me if the US of A gets any flakier), I will avoid any comment on the substance of the recent elections. I just felt truly sorry for poor Ignatieff, losing his own seat in so complete a spanking (pun intended) that the BDSM crowd here could hardly improve upon it. And as I've gotten my share (with bonuses) of one-bombs, I just wanted to extend non-political condolences to Mike and the Grits (did I get that right?).

 

[TE999]

Grits? Did someone say grits?

*sits down at the table*

Can I have some?

Is it freshly-made, spicy, cheesy grits? Yes? Then I'll take mine with shrimp, if you have it, thanks.

And as long as we're planning breakfast, can I have a Bloody Mary, too? I'll provide the jalapeno-spiced pickled okra garnish if you make the drinks.

Oooh, oooh, cheese grits and shrimp, pass a bowl of that beauty down here, and the Loozianna hot sauce. I'll have black chicory coffee and honey with it.

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Oooh, oooh, cheese grits and shrimp, pass a bowl of that beauty down here, and the Loozianna hot sauce. I'll have black chicory coffee and honey with it.

Excellent. Mind sharing that coffee? I might need it after the Bloody Mary.

As long as we're talking about Canadian Mikes, I'll save seats and grits for Mike Myers, Michael J. Fox, and, while I hope he doesn't need them for some time, Mike Babcock. I suppose Mike Ignatieff can join us, too.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

As I'm not a Canadian citizen (although a kind client offered to sponsor me if the US of A gets any flakier), I will avoid any comment on the substance of the recent elections. I just felt truly sorry for poor Ignatieff, losing his own seat in so complete a spanking (pun intended) that the BDSM crowd here could hardly improve upon it. And as I've gotten my share (with bonuses) of one-bombs, I just wanted to extend non-political condolences to Mike and the Grits (did I get that right?).

Grits? Did someone say grits?

*sits down at the table*

Can I have some?

Is it freshly-made, spicy, cheesy grits? Yes? Then I'll take mine with shrimp, if you have it, thanks.

And as long as we're planning breakfast, can I have a Bloody Mary, too? I'll provide the jalapeno-spiced pickled okra garnish if you make the drinks.

Oooh, oooh, cheese grits and shrimp, pass a bowl of that beauty down here, and the Loozianna hot sauce. I'll have black chicory coffee and honey with it.

Excellent. Mind sharing that coffee? I might need it after the Bloody Mary.

As long as we're talking about Canadian Mikes, I'll save seats and grits for Mike Myers, Michael J. Fox, and, while I hope he doesn't need them for some time, Mike Babcock. I suppose Mike Ignatieff can join us, too.

I'll go for a nice breakfast of grits; it's among my favourite southern foods. Up north we have plain cornmeal, though, and Grits are the Liberals (Conservatives are the Tories). And, estragon, Gilles Duceppe, leader of the Bloc Quebecois, lost his seat as well, and his party crashed down to only 3 seats.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

So accusing Harper of being "too American" wasn't a good slogan, after all?

 

[Tio_Narratore]

So accusing Harper of being "too American" wasn't a good slogan, after all?

Some Canadians think of themselves as "just like Americans, only nicer," with the assumption that Americans tend to be a bit rude and boorish. Even more tend to think of Americans as inherently conservative, mean-spirited, gun-toters. Hence the strategy of tarring Harper with the "American brush" (or was that "Bush?). Doesn't really work, though, since most Canadians know Americans, and know that our neighbours south of the border are a diverse lot, and not particularly unfriendly. (And I can attest that I was only shot at twice by Americans; see!)

By the way, our great humourist, Stephen Leacock (somewhat of an equivalent to the Americans Samuel Clemens), once defined Canadians:

"A Canadian is a person who, when faced with a choice between heaven and a lecture on heaven, will always choose the lecture."

 

[voluptuary_manque]

And now for a moment from Canada's greatest songsmith, the late Stan Rogers.

 

[stephen55]

And now for a moment from Canada's greatest songsmith, the late Stan Rogers.

Northwest Passage

I still get chills when I hear that song.

Another favorite Stan Rogers' ballad is Barrett's Privateers..

Oh, the year was 1778,
HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!
A letter of marque came from the king,
To the scummiest vessel I'd ever seen,

On a West Coast salmon trip around the Broken Islands, noted for its dearth of salmon, as well as the loss of our main and a non-functioning kicker going through Seymour Narrows!!!, right over the once deadly Ripple Rock, me and the lads wrote a song about our misadventures to the tune and cadence of Barrett's Privateers.

To make up for our lack of fresh salmon, we had to choke down baskets of Dungeness crab and Pacific prawns, washed down with pints of Granville Island Pale Ale, chilled by the cool, clear waters off Pott's Lagoon. Damn!!

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Northwest Passage

I still get chills when I hear that song.

Another favorite Stan Rogers' ballad is Barrett's Privateers..

Oh, the year was 1778,
HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE NOW!
A letter of marque came from the king,
To the scummiest vessel I'd ever seen,

On a West Coast salmon trip around the Broken Islands, noted for its dearth of salmon, as well as the loss of our main and a non-functioning kicker going through Seymour Narrows!!!, right over the once deadly Ripple Rock, me and the lads wrote a song about our misadventures to the tune and cadence of Barrett's Privateers.

To make up for our lack of fresh salmon, we had to choke down baskets of Dungeness crab and Pacific prawns, washed down with pints of Granville Island Pale Ale, chilled by the cool, clear waters off Pott's Lagoon. Damn!!

You poor man! What suffering! I don't know how you survived that ordeal...

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Next time it happens you will need support. Let us know and we will be there for you.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Barrett's Privateers

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Yes, Stan Rogers was great, but let's not forget inland Canada...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjLBXb1kgMo

(Wade Hemsworth, with the classic NFB animation))

 

[Tio_Narratore]

And here's another by Wade Hemsworth, and one in keeping with the theme of Literotica - "The Log Driver's Waltz"...The Log Driver's Waltz pleases girls completely...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjLBXb1kgMo

 

[Xelebes]

And here's another by Wade Hemsworth, and one in keeping with the theme of Literotica - "The Log Driver's Waltz"...The Log Driver's Waltz pleases girls completely...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjLBXb1kgMo

Mind the url.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ekqsHP9Sck

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Thanks, Xelebes; the older "copy" was still on my clipboard!

 

[stephen55]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjLBXb1kgMo

Coffee spew!!

My neurologist buddy and fellow pilgrim on the annual pilgrimage to The Babine (blessings be upon it's Holy Name), worked his way through university on diamond drilling rigs in northern Ontario.

North Ontar-I-O-I-O, North Ontario!!

While the lads and I were, on occasion, diving for cover from the attacking hordes of Babine mosquitoes, he would be out on the river, releasing three to eight pound Babine rainbows, coolly dismissing mosquitoes as a minor irritant, having survived The Little Blackfly.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Those are cute! They don't have the heartwrenching pathos of Stan Rogers but they would be worth learning.

And blackflies are the major reason I always schedule my Canadian trips late in the summer!

 

[estragon]

Oh, what did I start here? Herself loves grits, I can't stand the stuff, but I can understand the Southerners, both native and exotic, love the stuff. Tatyana, I could definitely use a Bloody Mary.

Tio, Thanks for the memory jog. Now I remember that the PQ got thrashed as well. As a foreigner, though, I haven't the background so can't really comment.

 

[stephen55]

Now I remember that the PQ got thrashed as well. As a foreigner, though, I haven't the background so can't really comment.

The PQ (Parti Quebecois) are a party that exists only in Quebec and advocates for Quebec sovereignty and succession from Canada. In short, they want to break up the country.

There have been two referendums in Quebec on sovereignty (in various guises) and both were defeated, but only by a narrow margin.

My guess is that voters in Quebec now feel that they're better off in Canada than on their own and want representation from parties that are federalist. Of course, there are many other opinions on the demise of the PQ in this election, some of which, I'll keep to myself.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Wasn't one of the reasons the last referendum was defeated was that the native peoples in northern Quebec threatened to secede from Quebec and take their hydroelectric power with them? My feeble understanding of Canadian economy is that Quebec is basically a parasite on the rest of the country and if they ever do leave, they'll drive themselves into penury, not to mention being billed for all the infrastructure that the central government built for them.

 

[stephen55]

I wouldn't call Quebec a parasite on the rest of the country. I'm sure they could make it on their own, given that they are bigger than a lot of countries with an abundance of resources.

What Quebec does do (ad naseum) is demand more than their share out of confederation. It has about 23% of Canada's population but insists on a great deal more than 23% of federal spending, government contracts, employment opportunities etc., etc.

In the past, whenever Quebec felt it wasn't getting more than it's share (read: always), it threatened, blustered and generally squawked until the feds caved. The implied threat was always separation. Lately, there has been much less noise about separation coming from the people of Quebec. (The PQ is another matter.)

Personally, I'm a firm believer in Democracy. If Quebec wants another referendum on separation, they are entitled to it. However, as it involves all of Canada, all Canadians should get to vote on whether Quebec stays or goes. I know how the rest of the country would vote, which is why there never will be such a referendum.