Dave's Snarky (Northern) Canadian Blog

Moved

2009-03-11T15:55:00.001-06:00

I'm over here now. If you want to follow, come along and update your links.

OK, NOW I'm back

2008-10-20T09:50:00.003-06:00

So my posts here have been sporadic since returning from my blogging sabbatical that lasted for most of 2007, and part of 2008. Well, the reason for that sabbatical has now past, and I can explain in detail why I went on it.

First, there was election readiness, which I could not talk about for obvious reasons. That kept me quiet on the political front, because unlike others, I didn't want to be quoted as some "Liberal Insider". I spent the better part of two years there, trying to find a candidate in the NWT, and trying to relay the association's concerns to the national party. It was tedious, and incredibly frustrating, but it was an excellent learning experience, and I feel I am richer for it. Does that mean I want to take up a similar role in the future? Maybe. At this point I would rather not, but it may be the disappointment talking there.

Second, the more recent thing that kept me reading Web 2.0 and not contributing to it was I spent September and October managing the campaign of the Liberal candidate in the Western Arctic. Also incredibly frustrating, and also a huge learning experience, and something I would advise against for anyone with a rookie politician running. Don't get me wrong, for the time we had with Gabrielle, I think she did very well, but we would have been able to contend a lot better if she had declared earlier and we had had the summer to prepare and begin the campaign. We got creamed, losing a huge amount of support to the NDP and the Conservatives (some key people in the other towns in the NWT turned traitor, and took on roles to get a Tory elected here).

The most obvious lesson here is that much like with the national party, the Liberal brand needs to rebuild in the North. Throughout the campaign, I struggled to keep the office open, and watched as our supporters in the communities sat on their hands. We need to work on addressing the lack of enthusiasm in the north for our party, and we still need to address the change in the manner money is raised here. With another minority government in Ottawa, I expect to see the same shortfalls we observed in the last period. There will be difficulty finding someone who will put their life on hold in order to go out and fight for a better Canada. There will be financial difficulties, as the Western Arctic is the second largest riding in Canada, and has half the population of southern ridings.

With regards to the national party, it looks like the boss will be stepping down today. I wish he wouldn't, but the wind is blowing that way this time around. So the party will spend the next 8 months in Leadership mode, and we'll have a new leader in May. I was with Dion from the beginning of convention, for the simple reason that his vision of Canada most reflected mine, and now, I'm left wondering where I will go. With a potential 42 delegates from the NWT, I would like to see some lobbying on the part of the leadership contestants up here, but it remains to be seen if they will try to swing up here at all. I will probably be involved in a campaign, but it remains to be seen if anyone can wow me. If no one does, I will go to convention in my Dion gear.

Pat McMahon

2008-07-08T09:06:00.002-06:00

This is sad news. Pat was a woman of exceptional character, and has been a fixture in the community since I was born. When I got married back in January, part of my plan was to have the whole thing be a Liberal affair (I'm a dork I know), and I asked Pat if she would be the Justice of the Peace to perform the ceremony. She agreed, but ended up in the hospital on the day of the wedding. From her hospital bed, Pat called all the other JPs in order to find one who could fill in for her. She is missed.

Capitalism

2008-06-25T15:53:00.004-06:00

I just read an opinion piece in the local rag by Dan Wong (candidate in the 2003 election for the riding of Yellowknife Centre at the tender age of 18), about how Capitalism needs to be Stopped. No, that is the actual title of the article, and it is not toungue in cheek, it is deadly serious in it's delivery. The underlying argument Dan makes is that Humans have been around for thousands of years, and we are more unequal now than we have ever been, and that this is capitalisms fault. This is bullshit.

Capitalism is not evil, capitalism is, um, well:

cap·i·tal·ism - –noun - an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, esp. as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.

To say that humanity was better off before the rise of the merchant class, or that a society that is based on reciprocity and redistribution is in some way superior to the current one is simplistic and logically unsound.

For one, before the rise of corporations, and publicly traded companies, humanities wealth was controlled by the ruling hereditary elite, elite due to their circumstances of birth, not necessarily due to any actual financial acumen or governing ability. Secondly, capitalism has allowed for advances in sciences, with medical advances allowing for humans to live longer and better lives than they did under the yolk of the hereditary rulers of the past. The potential for profit has not only advanced science, but also art of all kinds. Humans have more free time, and the wherewithall to enjoy it. Where there is a market for profit, there is an avenue for development and for philanthropy. In essence, I disagree with the assertion that the rise of capitalism has been bad for the world, I would say the contrary is true. I am not a rabid free-market liberal of course, I think there should be balances to abuses of wealth (and there are, thank FSM), and I don't see regression to the sustenance based lifestyles of the past as an answer to anything.

Life is not about merely staying alive, it is about enjoying what we have, something that has been dramatically improved since the decline of the hereditary rulers.

David Brin has stated that one of the greatest things about the enlightenment is that it transformed society from a pyramid to a diamond (in terms of shape, well to do at the top, poor at the bottom). That is not something that should be stopped, but rather encouraged.

Western Arctic to Northwest Territories?

2008-06-25T11:37:00.004-06:00

Ah, our illustrious tax-payer funded MP is at it again, rather than representing the North on issues that matter, Dennis Bevington is playing semantic games again. You may remember a year or so ago, he wanted to change "sea to sea" to "sea to sea to sea".

Well now, in a fit because no one knows where he is from, he wants to change the name of his riding from Western Arctic to Northwest Territories. Here is a quick recap of some other topics he could be fighting for:

1. Poverty in aboriginal comunities
2. Lack of adequate health care in northern communities
3. Lower education levels in northern communities
4. Patronage appointments of former conservative candidates to federal positions

etc.

Okay. So rather than do his job as MP, Dennis wants to work on changing the name of the riding he represents. Super.

So, I know, I'm partisan as all hell, but frankly, this is not what an MP should be doing. A friend of mine sent me an email regarding another NDP member's thoughts on Dennis:
"He said that Dennis is a great cook, and that he frequently hosts dinners."

Dennis Bevington: Hosting dinners, pushing semantics, and not addressing the real issues in the north since 2006.

The Increadible Hulk

2008-06-18T09:31:00.002-06:00

Dave watch Hulk.

Hulk big, Hulk Strongest, Hulk Smash.

Movie funny. Movie not bad. Hulk good use of $11.

That all.

Bill C-51

2008-06-06T09:40:00.003-06:00

I was sitting around, doing some painting while Christina surfed Facebook a few evenings ago, and she turned to me and said, "Dave, your sister is in a group opposing Bill C-51."

"What's bill C-51? That's not the film censorship bill...I haven't heard of it", I say while diligently trying to drybrush.

"It's a Bill to regulate Natural Health Products, like those Herbal Magic people"

"Oh. Good," I say, "The pricks who sell that crap should all be thrown in jail for preying on people when they are at their most desperate."

Now, the Bill doesn't actually do that of course (Not that the Throw the Bums in Jail has worked before...see Kevin Trudeau), it just seeks to regulate an industry that is known to have sectors that make outrageous claims. Anyway, go read here to see where the opposition comes from and why it reaks of irony when they accuse people of only backing this bill to help "Big Pharma's" profits. I swear to FSM there is a South Park episode about this.

Little Pop Culture Tidbits

2008-06-06T09:21:00.002-06:00

I'm a bad blogger, I know. I can easily go for weeks at a time without bothering to write anything. So now, I'll make up for it by covering several topics in one go around:

1. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull Thingie was this year's Spider-man 3. In that I mean it will make a lot of money, and there is a point in the movie where it all falls apart as Spielberg decided to do a sequel to a different movie. It's not that I found old Indy bad, it's more that I had my suspension of disbelief shattered by the utter silliness of the final act. And once that happens in an Indy movie, you are pretty much screwed.

2. I find Sex and the City offensive to humanity. Not the Sex part, not the City part, more the privaleged, and pampered need to find a rich man to take care of all my needs part. There are some lines people have that can not be crossed, regardless of how well written or funny something is. This of course is not discussed at home since my wife loves the show and the movie.

3. I picked up the Onion Movie on DVD. It is worth checking out, if you have a soft spot for Kentucky Fried movie, or you like critiques of how mass media operates.

Tricked by a magazine company

2008-05-30T11:12:00.003-06:00

I'm not one for gossip rags, I can't stand the infatuation with actors/musicians/heirs to fortunes since none of it stems from their actual talent. Your average "entertainment" section of a paper or news broadcast is seldom about what movies are coming out, and how good they are, but rather about the stars of some movies and how they got married or dated or fought with stars of some other movie/television show/very special episode of Blossom. So, when I heard about the controversy regarding some child that is jointly owned by Disney and some former country musician, I promptly ignored it.

But then to my surprise, the magazine that the photos were published in printed an issue dedicated to Bobby Kennedy. So I unintentionally added my money to the fracas. FYI: Vanity Fair is a very confused magazine. Too many ads, not enough of substance. The RFK article is good however.

Budget Day in the NWT

2008-05-22T11:56:00.003-06:00

Today is the big day, after months of speculation, and several ads in the paper from the local union, including some cartoons that made no sense and weren't funny in the slightest (see Mallard Fillmore), the roulette wheel is being spun on positions in the bureaucracy.

For the record, I believe that government exists to provide services to the citizenry that are deemed to be necessary vital and can not be provided by the private sector due to either the possibility of profiteering or a lack of initial profitability. Unfortunately, the Labour movement in the Territory has been focusing more on the potential jobs that will be cut, and not on the service angle. Personally, I think this is a terrible public relations move, since it appears that all they care about is protecting their own source of income (based on my rather conservative estimates, the UNW would collect around 250,000 per year in dues from the positions being axed, so spending a million on a public relations campaign is simply protecting income, and a good investment on their part if it were successful), then about the quality of service provided to the people by the various government departments. There is in the Northwest Territories a large amount of resentment towards the amount of government employees, the amount they are paid, and frankly, the amount of work they do.

The whole thing is completely ass-backwards. Cuts of the magnitude being performed (10% of the total budget) should be done under an extensive cost-benefit review, should weigh the political implications, and not overlook the potential need for some positions and programs. The GNWT does not operate in this manner, and operates more like some little Barony in the frozen tundra. The cuts are being performed in such a way that they are performed in house by each department, and as such, many of the positions on the line, and programs on the chopping block are not determined by the effectiveness or necessity of the programs, but by the protectionism within the departments of friends and family. The NWT is not about what you know, but whom you know.

Of course, I'm not worried personally. I left the government a week before the announcement was made about the cuts (ironically my job was immune to the downsizing), due to a deep-seated dissatisfaction with the way the Government operates in the North. My most frequent argument was over my pension, which I personally didn't like to weigh in as a factor for my job satisfaction, a stance that caused such great offence amongst others. My argument was and is: while a pension plan is all fine and good, I am not going to have my retirement funds dictate my life in my 20s. Anyway, more to come as the big news comes down...

Random Musings

2008-05-20T09:45:00.005-06:00

Had the last of my wisdom teeth taken out on Friday, so I have a bit of a sore face. This weekend remained especially unproductive, although I managed to get through the second season of Big Love, and decided on a whim last night to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark, the plan being to watch all three Indiana Jones movies before the premiere of the new one on Thursday. More on Raiders later. Also picked up the new Dandy Warhols album (available for download from their website now).

I have lately been receiving the oddest emails from some folks in the States, and it seems they are trying to write to someone who has the same name as me. One of the items I received was the fellow's resume, which clearly lists my email address among his contact info. It reminded me that a few months ago, google asked if I wanted my address to be accessible by another user who had said he wanted it. So of course being sensible I deleted it, thinking I didn't feel like being snippy with someone who shares my name. Now I am in a conundrum, I mean, what do I do? Do I call this guy, and ask him to correct the info? Can I get mad at a guy who would respond to a roll call at the same time as me? Sigh.

While watching Raiders of the Lost Ark last night, I could not help but come to the conclusion that John Williams was increadibly lazy when composing the score for the movie. For one, the music is so similar to Empire Strikes Back that I expected Han kissing Leia. Secondly, how many times did they have to repeat that bloody trumpet bit? Indiana swings from a vine (Trumpets), Indiana runs from the aboriginals he tried to rob (trumpets), Indiana makes a bagel (trumpets). Seriously, I love the movie, but for some reason, watching it this time, the soundtrack seemed really half assed. Meh.

Adventures on the internet

2008-05-15T09:06:00.002-06:00

I've started selling things on the Internet, namely roleplaying books (yes, I'm that nerdy), and a cell phone I don't need. I discovered to my chagrin, that while on eBay, you can see that people are watching your items, although none of them seem to want to bid on them. I assume they are waiting for the last minute to swoop in to try to buy the book/phone/random piece of string at the last minute, which makes me question the whole reason I'm leaving these things up for seven days. And questions! Why does asking stupid questions make you a discerning buyer all of a sudden?

The whole thing is a new side of eBay for me, as I started by buying books (yes, nerd books), and items of a decidedly eclectic nature almost 5 years ago, and never dreamed of having to put up with the people who seem to demand overnight shipping. So here I am, selling off the material possessions I no longer believe are worthy of me, and I sit at my computer getting angry at all the people looking at my crap but not trying to buy. Sigh.

Hello there...

2008-05-13T13:44:00.002-06:00

OK, I'm back. I realize it's been about a year since I stopped writing here, and about a year and a half since I wrote anything of consequence, I can say without a doubt that I will now be contributing sporadic entries again. Since it's quite obvious where I stand politically, I am going to try to keep this blog less about federal politics, and more about my take on Territorial bs and cultural goings on. This will change when an election is called, or simply because I feel like it.

A brief update on where I've been and what I have done over the past year:

1. Went to the lower mainland, saw a lot of friends, made some new ones, went to two political fundraisers, saw Bjork, the Police, and the VSO doing Beethoven's 9th. I drove a convertible up and down Vancouver Island and got a healthy contribution to my future Melanoma.

2. I started a new job with the government. It was probably the biggest mistake of my life, and ate up a good 7 months of my life, and drove me into pretty severe depression. I am now a Persona non grata within the GNWT. I didn't leave in a huff, but am very glad to be gone, since I was incredibly miserable, and seriously constricted in my private life.

3. I got married. We eloped, it was shocking and awesome. Plus, I became an only child, since my sibling decided to no longer exist in my universe and disappeared in a puff of logic.

4. I moved. It was expensive.

5. I became Vice-President of WALA. It made me very happy.

6. I saw a lot of movies, and played a lot of video games. Due to the situation mentioned above, I also drank a lot of alcohol.

So, I am now a married man in the private sector. That's really all that has changed, although I think a good forum in which I can vent is once again required.