NDP, Liberals reach deal to topple minority Tory government

Breaking news from the CBC

The NDP and Liberals have reached a deal to topple the minority Conservative government and take power themselves in a coalition, CBC News has learned.

A deal has been negotiated between NDP Leader Jack Layton and Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion that would see them form a coalition government for two and a half years, the CBC's Keith Boag reported, citing sources.

More as it becomes available.
Of course it does not suggest that it will happen, only that a major hurdle has been cleared. And Stephen "hypocrite" Harper can cry all he wants about this being an attack on democracy, even though apparently it was the oppositions responsibility to
provide an alternative government when he wasn't in power.

Harper: We'll support the government on issues if it's essential to the country but our primary responsibility is not to prop up the government, our responsibility is to provide an opposition and an alternative government for Parliament and for Canadians. What the government has to do, if it wants to govern for any length of time, is it must appeal primarily to the third parties in the House of Commons to get them to support it.

How's the appealing thing workin for you there Mr.Harper?

updated below

Solomon: You will, but you won't form a coalition -

Harper: No.

Solomon: You won't form a coalition, therefore in the event this government falls we cannot expect you to turn to another party and try to form a government, in other words it will be an election?

Harper: Well you're getting into a lot of hypotheticals...

Solomon: That's what this is all about!

Harper: I've said we wouldn't, we're not looking to form a coalition, the Bloc Quebecois has been very consistent that they're not going to form a coalition with anybody, so we wouldn't look to form a coalition - but the present government isn't in a coalition either.

Solomon: So why did you write that letter to the Governor-General with Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton saying in the event of a confidence vote situation do not call a snap election - are we to assume that therefore you're working to form a coalition?

Harper: There seems to be an attitude in the Liberal government - that they can go in, be deliberately defeated and call an election - that's not how our constitutional system works. The government has a minority - it has an obligation to demonstrate to Canadians that it can govern. That it can form a majority in the House of Commons. If it can't form a majority, we look at other options, we don't just concede to the government's request to make it dysfunctional. I know for a fact that Mr. Duceppe and Mr. Layton and the people who work for them want this Parliament to work and I know if is in all of our interests to work. The government has got to face the fact it has a minority, it has to work with other people.

Here is part of that letter

As leaders of the opposition parties, we are well aware that, given the Liberal minority government, you could be asked by the Prime Minister to dissolve the 38th Parliament at any time should the House of Commons fail to support some part of the government’s program. We respectfully point out that the opposition parties, who together constitute a majority in the House, have been in close consultation. We believe that, should a request for dissolution arise this should give you cause, as constitutional practice has determined, to consult the opposition leaders and consider all of your options before exercising your constitutional authority. Your attention to this matter is appreciated.

You are right on one count, the government has got to face the fact it has a minority, it has to work with other people. If at the very minimum this sinks into Harpers big head, it may not be a waste of time.

Update:

The NDP would hold 25 per cent of cabinet positions, Boag said, adding that the finance minister and the deputy prime minister would be Liberals.

The Bloc Québécois would not officially be a part of the coalition, but the new government's survival would depend on their support, he said.

The Harper government could prorogue Parliament to block the coalition efforts, but "that'd be a very, very dramatic step given the government has taken the position there'll be a budget early in January," Boag said.

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Woman loses her job after intoxicated encounter with a stranger in restroom stall

So what is it about Minneapolis that entices people to have sex in public restroom stalls? Most famous would be senator "wide stance" Larry Craig, (Republitard) Idaho. Although the senator failed to seal the deal because he hit on an undercover officer, his explanations for his actions are priceless.

Lois Feldman on the other hand, had about a dozen people cheering her on.

After consuming a few too many cocktails before an Iowa Hawkeye ball game in Minneaplois last week, Ms.Feldman decided to head down and beat the half time rush, so she could get in and out of the facilities quicker. Her husband decided to stay in his seat. That is about the time that her recollection goes limp.

“I don’t know what happened,” Lois Feldman said. “But I don’t deny that it did happen because obviously there are police reports.”

Feldman said her husband, Kelly, has been supportive. She said he faults himself for not going with her when she left her seat to use the restroom before halftime.
Lois Feldman said her attorney has encouraged her to fight the ticket.

“He feels I was taken advantage of in my state of mind,” she said. “This is not me. We’re a very good family. This shouldn’t happen.”

Riiiiiight, cuz you know, if he would have gone when she asked him too, she wouldn't have had sex with a complete stranger. In other reports she claims she was drugged. Christ on a cracker, admit it was a royal fuck-up, pay the ticket and stfu!

And here is a pic for those who are curious about whether or not she is doable.

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woman forgives man for blinding her...

Just kidding, she wants the court to drip 20 drops of acid into his eyes. And apparantly, it will be done.

A man who blinded a woman in an acid attack after she spurned his marriage proposals has been sentenced to the same punishment, in a literal application of Iran's sharia eye-for-an-eye laws.
In a highly unusual judgment, Tehran province criminal court ordered Majid Movahedi, 27, to be blinded in both eyes from drops of acid in response to a plea from his victim, Ameneh Bahrami.

Now certainly there is nothing funny about this case, however,

Testifying in Movahedi's presence, she told the court that she wanted "to inflict the same life on him that he inflicted on me". Asked by the judge if she wanted Movahedi's face to be splashed with acid, she replied: "That is impossible and horrific. Just drip 20 drops of acid in his eyes so he can realise what pain I am undergoing."

her response was sort of amusing. As with any country, there are many things to criticize regarding Iran, yet, in this case I don't see a problem.

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I for one, welcome our new banana loving overlords

Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but the process has clearly begun!





A few weeks ago, faced with an economic slowdown, the owner of a Japanese restaurant/tavern, decided it was gimmick time. In North America, you might expect tight t-shirts and a peek at some young girls thong now and again. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course. However in Japan, Kaoru Otsuka, owner of the tavern, says the 2 monkeys were their household pets, but one day he noticed one of them mimicking a waiter by giving the customer a hot towel in the restaurant. Mr. Otsuka thought it would be an interesting idea to have them actually serve the customers. Damn you Kaoru Otsuka! Everyone knows that after Bears, Monkeys are the greatest threat to man.

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palin's poultry pardon

Yes, alright it is juvenile, however, as Sarah said:"you need a little bit of levity"
So Ms.Palin, having just granted a turkey clemency, steps outside and grants this interview. It somehow reminds me of a Simpsons episode where Lisa frees a struggling fish caught up in a six pack ring, and it ends up getting eaten by a bigger fish.

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past craze=double-decker buses, new craze=double-decker graves

Now how long could it have taken the British government to come up with this solution? Faced with a shortage of land for burial, The Times reports that in 2009, authorities across the country will be permitted to dig up existing graves so they can rebury them deeper and allow for additional space on top.

Under what they refer to as 'a test scheme',

new inscriptions will be added to the existing headstone to ensure that the heritage of the grave is not destroyed. Damaged or insignificant headstones would be removed and replaced with only the new name.

Now that doesn't seem fair, does it?

I mean, how rude! You're lying there for 100 years, and your headstone has been hit by lightning, or, I don't know, the guy driving the backhoe (do they use
backhoes in cemeteries there?) slams into it, and now it gets replaced with only the new guy's name? Shenanigans I say! 

  Anyhow, a fairly recent government survey
estimates that England and Wales will reach capacity in about 30 years, while other parts are close to it now, so unless someone can find a cure for death, although it may be a sacred issue for some, this reality is inevitable in my opinion.

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the inner circle speaks

Watch CBS Videos Online

Robert Gibbs, David Plouffe, David Axelrod and Anita Dunn, had a conversation with Steve Croft of 60 minutes, about how they managed such an extraordinary campaign. Though the video speaks for itself, what I find notable is (especially during the reverend Wright fiasco) whenever controversy arose, Obama kept his wits about him and in turn, the rest of the team followed in unison. That is a mark of a leader. For instance, how he handled the Wright situation, and told his team 'either people will listen, or I won't be president' and went on to deliver his "race speech", which by most measures was a success. Transcript below.

(CBS)
"There were just so many people, reporters, pundits, everybody, who said that, 'You're not gonna be able to elect a black man president of the United States. It's just not gonna happen right now.' Obviously, that had to be part of your equation in planning this campaign," Kroft remarked. "No, honestly you had to take a leap of faith in the beginning that the people we get by race. And I think the number of meetings we had about race was zero," Plouffe told Kroft. "Zero. We had to believe in the beginning that he would be a strong enough candidate that people of every background and race would be for him." "The only time we got involved in a discussion of race was when people asked us about it. It was a fascination of the news media," Axelrod added. “But you must have had some meetings on it during the Jeremiah Wright affair,” Kroft probed. Axelrod said the Jeremiah Wright affair was probably a pivotal moment in the whole campaign. "You know, pandemonium erupted in the political community. And there was this sense that we were in crisis." The video taped rantings of Obama's former pastor brought the issue that the Obama campaign had long sought to avoid center stage, and took them all by surprise. "And I think we'd all acknowledged that we should've been aware of some of these tapes were available. We didn't review all of the tapes of Jeremiah Wright as we should have," Axelrod said. "And as a result we were kind of caught flat-footed on some of these tapes. But you know we should have recognized that once that happened, that race is such a fascination of the political community that it would take off as it did. And it did." "That was a terrible weekend," Dunn remembered. "The excerpts were endlessly looped on television." “Yeah, and the only one who was calm was Obama,” Axelrod added. The candidate called his aides and told them he wanted them to clear some time on his schedule. "And he said, 'You know what? I'm gonna make a speech about race and talk about Jeremiah Wright and the perspective of the larger issue.' And he said, 'And either people will accept it or I won't be president of the United States. But at least I'll have said what I think needs to be said,'" Axelrod remembered.
(CBS)
Gibbs said there wasn't a discussion. "If there had been a discussion, we've often joked, probably most of the people in the campaign would've advised against it," Dunn added.

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behind the scenes on election night

Some nice shots of President Elect Obama and his team. What a historic night, capping off a historic campaign. Complete set here!

license to share.


A little nervous?


not Mrs.O



with his mother-in-law

Robert Gibbs, David Plouffe, Barack Obama and David Axelrod


The new President and his V.P




Mrs.Biden and Mrs.Obama congratulate each other









Father and daughter share a moment

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A Tribute to the "Mighty Fitz"

November 10th marks the 33rd anniversary of the tragedy of the
SS Edmund Fitzgerald,
Yesterday, as I was listening to the radio, "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald", Gordon Lightfoot's truly haunting tribute came on. Has any song ever described such an event so well? Some have put video to the song, giving it an even greater impact. Here is one example.




Lyrics



The legend lives on from the chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called 'gitche gumee'
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of november turn gloomy
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
Than the edmund fitzgerald weighed empty.
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of november came early.

The ship was the pride of the american side
Coming back from some mill in wisconsin
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
With a crew and good captain well seasoned
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for cleveland
And later that night when the ship's bell rang
Could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?
The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too,
T'was the witch of november come stealin'.
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of november came slashin'.
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind.

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin'.
Fellas, it's too rough to feed ya.
At seven p.m. a main hatchway caved in, he said
Fellas, it's been good t'know ya
The captain wired in he had water comin' in
And the good ship and crew was in peril.
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald.

Does any one know where the love of god goes
When the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searches all say they'd have made whitefish bay
If they'd put fifteen more miles behind her.
They might have split up or they might have capsized;
May have broke deep and took water.
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake huron rolls, superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion.
Old michigan steams like a young man's dreams;
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.
And farther below lake ontario
Takes in what lake erie can send her,
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of november remembered.

In a musty old hall in detroit they prayed,
In the maritime sailors' cathedral.
The church bell chimed till it rang twenty-nine times
For each man on the edmund fitzgerald.
The legend lives on from the chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call 'gitche gumee'.
Superior, they said, never gives up her dead
When the gales of november come early!

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some pics from the campaign trail--kids edition

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