ROBOCALL

 

Never in the History of Politics has So Much Been Written about So Little.

(My apologies to the late Sir Winston Churchill)

A Trial is currently underway in Guelph, Ontario in connection with the Great Robocall Scandal of the 2011 Federal General Election.

A lone individual, Michael Sona is facing one charge under the Elections Act for making misleading telephone calls (Robocalls) to Liberals in that Federal Riding.

In the lead up to his trial, ink has been splattered all over the place and in some cases awards have been given out to a newspaper – Ottawa’s own left leaning ‘Citizen’ and to two of its writers.  If they had any integrity those awards should be returned for handout to those more properly deserving.

Even Elections Canada got into the act claiming at one point that the Guelph experience was but the tip of the iceberg. That Robocalls had taken place right across Canada. It had to have orchestrated.

Suggestions were strongly made in Parliament and around the country that the Conservative Party itself was behind this nefarious scheme.

At the time, I believed that there was no way the Conservative Party nor any official Political Party would be involved in such shenanigans and I placed this incident, if it in fact had occurred, in the laps of some over-zealous riding volunteers.

Long ago, Elections Canada has had to admit there were no grounds for thinking a massive fraud on the voters had taken place.

Moreover, from the evidence presented so far at young Sona’s trial, it appears that it was he and he alone who carried out this ill advised stunt.

And stunt is the word to sum-up what occurred.

I have worked on elections since I was 11 / 12 years old, I have been a Riding President as well as a regional organizer for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and am well aware of what occurs at the local levels of politics.

When an election is called hundreds of volunteers from every background and stripe come forward to get involved in each of the main riding campaigns.

And dear reader do you know why that is?

If you guessed they are looking for IOUs form the winning Party – you’d be wrong.

Most are in it for the fun and I can tell you as an aside, more and more the fun is being taken out of it in this age of political correctness … but I digress.

So in Sona’s case here is a little guy who comes on board the Guelph Tory Campaign and he feels he is doing something worthwhile and the fact of the matter, he is.  He is having fun and gets over enthused and does something stupid and the media, Elections Canada, the Opposition Parties, the Pundits go wild.

It is to laugh out loud, since many of this righteous lot should and do know better.

And in that regard, I have a confession to make.

When I started out working on local campaigns as a kid, my main function was to go around the town and put up election signs on wooden telephone polls.  Yes, you younger ones, they were made of wood way back then.

And sometimes, not often, but sometimes I would tear down an opposition’s election sign ‘if it got in my way’.

So there, once upon a time, I too got overly zealous.

But what a sad commentary it is when one lone volunteer can cause such a national uproar.

Gotcha Politics has descended into new depths and we are all the poorer for it.

As I see it …

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

The Pundits Have Spoken …

 

In Regard to Who Won Last Eve’s Ontario Leaders’ Debate:

Hudak 1st; Wynne 2nd; & Horwath a close 3rd.

I concur with them, in fact I had my own scoring system and marked Hudak an overall 8.16 out of 10; Wynne 7.11; followed by Horwath at an even 7.

In the night’s seven categories,  counting the wrap-up, I had Hudak winning 6 and tying 1; Wynne winning 1 (surprisingly the topic on Debt / Deficit) and Horwath tying one with Hudak (Education).

Hudak opened calm and statesman-like and continued as such throughout; Wynne opened rattled but quickly picked up steam; while Horwath opened and closed looking nervous and disorganized.  In between she did okay.

So does any of this have anything to do with the price of tea in China? 

That is to say, will it have any impact on next week’s Election?

And the answer is a firm ‘Maybe’.

To move into majority territory, Hudak needed a strong performance from Horwath…. and he did not get it.

To do really well, Hudak needs the Grit and Dipper vote to split and Horwath’s weak performance virtually counts that out.

Wynne’ s performance – good or bad – really did not matter that much.  If you are a public service union employee, welfare recipient, a recipient of government largesse in general – you are going to vote Liberal in spite of what happened last night. 

In other words, her low 30 % support is safe and may even go up since some Dippers now are likely to flee the Horwath campaign.

Will that be enough to launch her into majority territory?  Not likely, but as I have said from the beginning, the Polls will soon tell us.

So back to Hudak.  His numbers too should improve with his winning performance and the positive effect that will have on the large undecided contingent.

Will they improve enough to launch him into majority territory?  Again, not likely.

And speaking of polls, I will do one more ‘let’s pretend it’s June 12th Election Day’ once the polling is in from yesterday’s debate.

The most important thing to come out of the Debate was Hudak’s promise last eve that he would not cut front line educators to those of special needs, rather he would actually increase their numbers.

As you know, recently I did a Blog on this very topic quoting several people who were planning not to vote for Hudak based on their fear that he would cut educators for autistic kids.  Yesterday, he put that to rest once and for all.

In emotional language, Hudak cited the health issues he and his wife have with their own little girl and then he spoke of a chap he went to school with who suffered from autism. I have some strong ties to this issue and was so relieved to hear what he said.  It also stands in contrast how former Premier and Wynne’s former boss Dolton McGuinty let autistics kids and their families down.

Finally, just to prove the Grits have not changed their stripes:  the OPP Association recently came out publicly against Hudak pretending it was not being done in support of the Liberals.  In spite of their protestations, it has been revealed just today that they were in extensive planning talks with the Grit Leadership in advance of their current anti-Hudak campaign.

We know we cannot trust the Grits but now have to add the Cops to list. Somebody has to get a handle on these out of control Public Service Unions but I fear if Hudak does not win a majority – Ontarians will be saddled with this for years and years to come.

A One Party State supported by an ever growing number of Public Servants making in excess of $100,000 k before plus pensions and benefits.

And if the Tories don’t win … you had better get used to it.

As I see it …

‘K.D. Galagher’

 

Rape Culture In Our Universities …

 

Is There One?

Now let me begin by saying I am not an authority on this subject, anything but, .. my only claim to enable me to write on the subject is that Anne and I have children and grandchildren of both sexes.

If that admission concerns you, I suggest you stop reading here.

But for those brave souls who wish to continue on,  here are my thoughts on the matter.

When the topic first came up a year or so ago – i.e. Rape Culture on Campus, my initial reaction was to think that those radical feminists were at it again.

More recently, after releasing a misogynist video we had Elliott Rodgers stabbing his 3 roommates to death and shooting two young woman at a nearby sorority house.  The women were the focus of his rampage which was based on his belief that women in general had not found him to be sexually attractive. 

I have been disabused of my initial thinking by my daughter, the educator, who assures me that there is a Rape Culture there and it is alive and thriving.

She cites several reasons for it including readily available pornography, movies, video games and the like that glorify oft times violent and meaningless sex.  Rappers continually degrading women in their weird and soul destroying lyrics. Let’s call it ‘noise’.

I had to agree with her and it got me to thinking about the topic from my own point of view, rooted, as it is, in the 1960s.

In my generation, guys were in seventh heaven if they were able to get a kiss on the first date. Girls were special and were to be treated as such.

Over the years things have changed in large measure due to the factors cited by my daughter.

But for me it goes beyond that.

Indeed, I have to wonder if it is just a Rape Culture we are dealing with today or is it also a Rape Me Culture.

With such idols as Madonna, Mylie Cyrus and Beyonce to emulate, no wonder many young girls dress and act like tramps.

Many cover their bodies with hideous tattoos that would put the Ancient Mariner to shame and speak the same lingo.

I was in a garage getting work on my car recently when I heard two apparently nice young girls talking about an auction they were going to that evening to bid on guys and with each winning bid came two cans of whip cream. They were not ashamed and made no effort whatsoever to keep their conversation to themselves.

My sainted ancestors would have been appalled.  I know I was.

What has happened along the way?  Making love has been trivialized.  Too often it appears as if there is no consideration given for their partner. 

So yes dear reader, thanks to the wise counsel of my daughter I have come to accept as fact that a Rape Culture does exist in our society. 

A culture that has enveloped boys as well as girls.  There is lots of blame to go around.

And I think I know what is lacking in all of this and that can be summed up in 1 word … R E S P E C T.

And until a person can Respect him or herself, he or she will be unable to Respect others. 

And all the ‘Noise’ that we each encounter in our daily lives makes the attainment of that goal all the more difficult.

As I see it…

‘K.D. Galagher’