King Ralph is deposed...

So here is the compromise-- Ralph Klein steps down about 9 months from now. Not living in Alberta, I only get second-hand info on what a bastard Klein is, but, from the sounds of it, whoever succeeds him is probably going to be worse.

"We-Didn't-Get-Enough-Last-Time" Part 2:

The Toronto Star reports that the Tories have decided to more or less ignore Toronto (apparently, we're the "Starbucks Crowd" and focus on Quebec and Tim Horton's customers.

In a private talk, Conservative strategist Goldy Hyder said Prime Minister Stephen Harper's current strategy is all about winning a majority government — hopefully within the next 12 months — and to do so, the Tories have changed their approach, according to an account of his briefing. The Tories now see their best hope for obtaining a majority in Quebec, where they broke through by unexpectedly winning 10 of the province's 75 ridings in the Jan. 23 election. Also, the Harper government wants to appeal to the "Tim Hortons crowd," not the people who go to Starbucks, Hyder told Canadian Chamber of Commerce board members in a meeting in Windsor. To that end, the government will be mindful of the concerns of rank-and-file voters above those of the business community and Canada's elites.

Clearly, we are headed for another round of constitutional wrangling. Because if you can bring Quebec in, the sovereigntists will lose a lot of support, and the Liberal hold on Quebec is broken. It's been suggested that Harper's "less spending" fits in well with decentralization and this will make them open to many of Quebec's demands. On the other side, a slim minority in the House and a number of premiers who will likely resist devolution may put this off for a bit. It all depends on Charest now. If he or Dumont wins the next provincial election, then we'll see a deal get made. If it is the PQ, then it gets messier. Interesting times.

In other news, I'm not unhappy about paying attention "rank-and-file" voters, though the Tory plan to build more prisons strikes me as as problematic. And minimum prison times for drug offences? Yeesh. Stupid. Because jailing everyone for posession worked well in the U.S. didn't it?

When will conservatives figure it out? The Strict Father mode doesn't work. It didn't work in Iraq, it didn't work for drugs and it didn't work for the Sith. (Okay, okay, the last one is made up.) People need support. If they don't get it, they turn to other means to feel better-- drugs, crime etc.

From the "we-didn't-get-enough-last-time" Dept:

Harper, the dear man, has decided that a constitutional conference will be just thing to wake Canadians out of their complacency. I mean, silly boos, the Canadian Citizenry, running around attending to their own business and such. There was such an outcry! I mean, aside from Dalton whimpering about funding every five minutes (something everyone else in the province ignored), who the hell was thinking of one?

But then, he hired a bunch of Mulroney types. So what did we think was going to happen? And with such perfect timing too! Harper and the premiers will put together some idiot compromise, English Canada will reject it (if they get a chance), there will be news reports of some collection of dolts stomping on the Quebec flag again (i.e. See Meech Lake Accord, 1988-1990), just in time to get Quebecois to vote PQ again in 2007. What fun!

Oh looky!

Klein is headed out. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

There are a number of theories here. First, the Third Way. Apparently, Albertans aren't exactly rushing to embrace it. Even the Right in Albertan figures that they've lost that battle.

Leadership candidate Mark Norris says the program is already dead. "The bottom line is that nobody understands this," said Norris, who held the economic development portfolio before being defeated in the last election. "You have to get people emotionally involved and (believe) why they need to buy into it. We have to do a better job of explaining."

It might also be worth noting, as the Calgary Grit has linked to, the leadership candidates aren't exactly jumping all over themselves to support it either.

In part, it might also be that Ralph's drinking, muttering and general gadding about the place in a state of near dementia for several years, only to stomp all over those preparing to replace him finally did him in. The dumbest part about it (aside from attempting to emulate Chretian re: Martin) was that Oberg was a long shot at best. So when Dinning and Norris, who are slightly bigger fish see this, the prospect of being kicked out of caucus and cabinet while King Ralp takes 34 years to retire was probably too much. These guys have a lot of party memberships taken out to support them. Not surprising that suddenly the membership woke up.

But to make it even more fun, seems like the good Parson is getting back into the race. Which makes it all mightee innerestin, don't you thing? Dinning was the front runner, but Preston could turn all that on its head.

Post Script: A few days later, it seems like option #3 has emerged as the winner! Reports out of Alberta in the Globe have a large number of people upset that King Ralph has been blindsided by an attempted coup. This, of course, opens the door to the right-wing mantra, "the silent majority, that of the people, know I am right and support me." So maybe he stays. Stay tuned.

Good thing baseball is starting soon...

...because ABC writers seem to be playing in Left Field.

After the British Medical Journal published an article about motivational deficiency disorder, ABC got in on the Act with a followup.

The condition affects up to one in five Australians and is characterised by overwhelming and debilitating apathy, reports Sydney-based journalist and author Ray Moynihan...Professor Leth Argos, a neuroscientist at the University of Newcastle, reportedly identified the new disorder.

Of course, as Forbes pointed out, it's a tradition for the BMJ to put out an April Fool's Day edition. Not surprisingly, the ABC article noted that "ABC Science Online was unable to reach Professor Leth Argos or find him listed on the University of Newcastle website." Yeah, go figure. Of course, it is anyone's guess if the ABC article lasts out the day-- a similar bit of earnestness was pulled from CTV's website after it had been up a few days.