80% said yes!

Remember those old commercials where they would go to a town, poll them about whether they liked some medicine or other and then announce, "in Lunenburg, 76% said yes!" So I borrow the metaphor to note that according to a recent poll, 80% are happy to be living here. 73% are proud to be Canadian, a percentage I note is likely to be rather higher than the populace at large. (and about 50% above neo-cons of various sorts. Can we put the neo-cons into their own country in the middle of Russia, Africa or Montanna (you know, somewhere utterly desolate) and watch them eat each other?) If you recall my article a ways back about the terrorist plot being foiled because of a Muslim who wanted to give something back to Canada, something ought to be twigging for you right now.

One other point:

A majority of the Muslim respondents (53 per cent) would also like to see Islamic Sharia law adopted for divorce and other family disputes, and a much larger number, 86 per cent, of Canadian Muslims do not feel governments should ban the wearing of headscarves by Muslim women in public, including public schools.

I can imagine how this will be the departure point for various conservatives on this one. But it's a dead issue, as the last paragraph notes.

In fact, almost 60 per cent of Muslim women do not wear any kind of covering on a regular basis, the survey found. And 72 per cent of the respondents said they were not too worried or not worried at all about Muslim women taking on more modern roles in Canadian society.

Which puts it in perspective. Personally, I don't care if a Muslim wears a head scarf. The veil is a bit different, but in truth, it's pretty unlikely that will be an issue for me in class, since if a Muslim woman is at university, I rather doubt she'll be wearing a veil unless its -25 out.

Welcome to the end of your Polical career Garth

Yeah, so "maverick" MP Garth Turner, who quit the Tories in a huff a few months back, decided to join the Liberal party today. Bad move mister. You had some shred of credibility (barely), complaining about Harper and his tyrannical rule over caucus. I'd even of bought it if you'd joined the Green party. But the Liberals? Who you were slamming a year ago during the campaign? And when you nailed Emerson for crossing the floor?

Notably, he denounced Harper's decision to swear Emerson into cabinet. Emerson crossed the floor after being elected as a Liberal in January 2006. Turner said then that anyone who crossed the floor should step down and run in a byelection.

According the Star, the quote was:

“If you want to be a Liberal, be elected as a Liberal. All those things have honour but the honour is bestowed by the people, not by the individual.”

Of course, this is the same Turner who led a tax revolt against the Tories in 1987 from the pages of the Toronto Sun, where he was a pitiful excuse for a business columnist. He ran against Campbell for the leadership, got killed, but was made Minister of National revenue. Thus, the man once leading a revolt against Canada's taxes was made responsible for collecting them. Great optics there.

In any case, let's take a collective breath at the stupidity of this move. Enjoy your last moment in the spotlight Garth. Even if you get the Liberal nomination in Halton, you are dead in the next election. D-E-A-D. You were probably dead before you got kicked out of the Conservative caucus, but then, at least, you had a (barely) credible argument to make as an independent. Now, to go with mouthy, you get the opportunist tag.