{"id":3073,"date":"2011-06-17T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-17T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/?p=3073"},"modified":"2011-06-17T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-17T13:00:00","slug":"friday-link-grab-bag-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/?p=3073","title":{"rendered":"Friday Link Grab Bag"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A few random Friday thoughts:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-NMhQgGBz8Yg\/Tfpv9CvLcKI\/AAAAAAAACe0\/QBq1oQ8ROdw\/s1600\/riot%2Bkiss.jpg\"><img style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618926579595571362\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-NMhQgGBz8Yg\/Tfpv9CvLcKI\/AAAAAAAACe0\/QBq1oQ8ROdw\/s320\/riot%2Bkiss.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>1. Don&#8217;t expect this weekend&#8217;s NDP convention in Vancouver to be nearly as exciting as Wednesday night. Still, the possibility for riots and\/or make out sessions does exist when delegates begin debating a motion to repeal the Clarity Act.<\/p>\n<p>2. Speaking of the NDP convention, FarandWide has a good <a href=\"http:\/\/farnwide.blogspot.com\/2011\/06\/squeeze.html\">blog post<\/a> up on NDP attempts to squeeze the Liberals.<\/p>\n<p>3. The Liberals, meanwhile, will be holding an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.liberal.ca\/extraordinary-convention\/\">extraordinary telephone convention<\/a> this weekend, to determine when we&#8217;ll pick a new leader. Truth be told, I haven&#8217;t decided how to vote yet &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/calgarygrit.blogspot.com\/2011\/05\/putting-it-off.html\">as I&#8217;ve said before<\/a>, neither a 5 month mad dash or a 2 year marathon are appealing leadership options. I have writen to the LPC in support of <a href=\"http:\/\/bcinto.blogspot.com\/2011\/06\/liberals-i-need-your-help-changing.html\">Jeff Jedras&#8217; motion<\/a> to hold the leadership vote next fall &#8211; I still think that&#8217;s too far out, but it beats the alternatives.<\/p>\n<p>4. Kudos to the Liberals and NDP for speaking out in favour of an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vancouversun.com\/business\/Quebec+asbestos+shunned+home+shipped+abroad\/4948617\/story.html\">asbestos ban<\/a>. I&#8217;ve given the NDP some flack on this blog for choosing politics over principle in the past, but I&#8217;ll give them props for doing the right thing, even if it doesn&#8217;t jive with their new role as protectors of Quebec.<\/p>\n<p>5. Samara has a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.samaracanada.com\/downloads\/Samara_Report_The_Accidental_Citizen.pdf\">fascinating report<\/a> out, based on their MP exit interviews.<\/p>\n<p>6. One <em>incoming<\/em> MP who managed to grab headlines this week was Elizabeth May, who was the sole voice in the House opposing the extension of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestar.com\/news\/canada\/politics\/article\/1008395--canada-to-recognize-libya-s-rebel-government\">mission in Libya<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/hostednews\/canadianpress\/article\/ALeqM5g52rSUflX9yPCCRkOGOosqNXHIOg?docId=7149219\">passage of mega trial bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While it&#8217;s important for May to stay relevant, she&#8217;ll need to learn to pick her battles &#8211; the quickest route to a headline is not always the quickest route to relevancy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A few random Friday thoughts: 1. Don&#8217;t expect this weekend&#8217;s NDP convention in Vancouver to be nearly as exciting as Wednesday night. Still, the possibility for riots and\/or make out sessions does exist when delegates begin debating a motion to repeal the Clarity Act. 2. Speaking of the NDP convention, FarandWide has a good blog [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3073\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calgarygrit.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}