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Canadian Government: The Fat Lady Has Sung
The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin will fall according to Reuters. Read the story here:
Canada’s minority Liberal government, under heavy pressure over a corruption scandal, looks set to lose a confidence vote next week, government and opposition officials said Friday.
Prime Minister Paul Martin has proposed Parliament vote on his budget next Thursday and says he will call an election if he loses.
The main opposition Conservative Party wants the vote immediately but indications are that whenever it is held, the Liberals have a poor chance of surviving, even though the vote will be close.
“This government is finished,” a senior member of the cabinet confided. If the Liberals fall next Thursday it would open the way to a June 27 election.
The Liberals and their left-leaning New Democrat allies have 151 seats in the 308-seat parliament, while the Conservatives and the separatist Bloc Quebecois have 153. The speaker of Parliament is a Liberal but he only votes in case of a tie. One seat is vacant.
To have any chance of winning the Liberals need the support of two independent members of Parliament, at least one of whom now says he will in all likelihood vote against the government.
“The math is very favorable … we’re confident we’re doing the right thing and that the numbers are in place,” senior Conservative legislator Vic Toews told reporters.
Even the New Democrats, who insist Parliament be kept alive long enough to pass the budget, are not holding out much hope.
When Reuters suggested to a well-placed New Democrat official that the government side looked set to lose the vote, the official replied: “I think you’re right.”
For all the Conservatives’ determination to bring down the government, polls show the electorate is in a volatile mood and there is no guarantee the party would win an election and end 12 years of Liberal power.
One Conservative member of Parliament is severely ill with cancer and is due to have an operation next Wednesday, which means he will miss the vote Thursday.
His absence would in theory give the Liberals a greater chance of survival but the New Democrats said for the sake of fairness they are ready to withdraw one of their own legislators from Parliament during the vote.
“What we are potentially doing is failing to take advantage of a sick member, and we’re simply refusing to do that,” New Democrat Member of Parliament Ed Broadbent told reporters.
If the New Democrats did withdraw a member to compensate for the missing Conservative, it would leave the Liberals with 150 seats to 152 for their opponents.
The chances of Martin surviving suffered a blow Thursday when independent legislator David Kilgour — a long-term advocate of Africa — expressed disappointment with a proposed aid package for Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.
“If (Martin) doesn’t do significantly better in the next week then he can assume that my vote’s going to be against him,” Kilgour told Reuters.
It is over!
The political game is afoot – a summer’s election for Canada.
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North Korea: Shooting Up the President
What a bunch of Morons these North Koreans are.
Read the story here:
North Korean children play a shooting game with a toy gun aiming at a portrait of U.S. President George W. Bush at Namjun kindergarten in Shinwiju, Pyongan-Budo, North Korea. The photo was released by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 9, 2005
The Huffington Post has commentary here.
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Police Say They Know Source of Finger Found in Chili
Flap previously asked the question from whence came the finger found in Wendy’s chili?
We have an answer!
Read about it here:
Police on Friday said the finger a woman claimed she found in a bowl of Wendy’s chili came from an acquaintance of her husband who lost it in an industrial accident in December.
“The jig is up,” Police Chief Rob Davis said during a news conference. “The puzzle pieces are beginning to fall into place, and the truth is being exposed.”
Davis said the tip was called in to a hotline established by the Ohio-based fast food chain, and police found the man – very much alive – in Nevada this week. He said scientific tests confirmed the finger was his.
“This subject was in fact the source of the fingertip allegedly found in the chili,” Davis said.
He said the man, who was not identified, was an acquaintance of Jaime Plascencia, the husband of the Las Vegas woman who made the claim, Anna Ayala. He also said detectives had determined the man had given the finger fragment to Plascencia.
Ayala told police she discovered the finger March 22 in a bowl of chili at a Wendy’s franchise in San Jose.
Police arrested Ayala and accused of her making up the story to get money from Wendy’s.
Wendy’s has offered a $100,000 reward and has said it has lost millions in sales since Ayala made the claim. Dozens of employees at the company’s Northern California franchises also have been laid off.
“There are victims in this case that have suffered greatly,” Davis said.
Now we all knew that the San Jose police would not KNUCKLE UNDER in this case, didn’t we? -
Odd Couple: But, Why?
Newt Gingrich and Hillary Clinton on the same stage, somewhat agreeing on unsubstantiative issues.
Why?
The New York Times has a piece here that may explain:
Exactly why Mr. Gingrich has been so effusive about Mrs. Clinton is an open question. He says he has been impressed by the job she has done since becoming a senator.
But others say that he gains as much politically as she does by sharing a stage with her, at a time when he is said to be mulling over the possibility of running for the presidency in 2008
“It’s mutually beneficial,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic strategist. “He gets to appear to be a mainstream figure and she gets to appear as someone who is willing to work with everyone, no matter their ideology.”
But Mr. Gingrich may end up paying a price politically for engaging in what many conservatives regard as heresy. “He is trying to change his image into a softer and more gentle Newt,” said Michael Long, the chairman of the New York State Conservative Party. “That is a major mistake on his part.”
Mistake or strategy?
Stay Tuned!
Update #1
Rush Limbaugh weighs in with his opinion here:
RUSH: I want to go back to this Hillary Clinton ( news | website ) and Newt Gingrich ( news | website ) relationship here and give you three sound bites to put this in perspective. Newt has been making some appearances on the media to explain himself. Among other things he’s saying is, “Hey, look. I mean if we can’t put differences from ten years ago aside move forward jointly, there’s not much hope for the country.” I understand. Both Hillary and Newt want to be seen as unifiers because the country here is “a partisan cesspool.” It’s just constantly divided. It’s getting worse and worse and worse, and I’m sure there are some people out there thinking if they can be the ones perceived as uniting us, that they will be loved and they will be cherished and they’ll be promoted and they’ll have their praises sung — and if Newt thinks that they’re going to say that about him, he has another thing to think….
RUSH: Oh yes! So Gingrich needs to do this, and Gingrich needs to do that. Hillary just has to show up. That’s all Hillary has to do: just show up. Gingrich? He’s got to show his compassionate side because everybody knows he’s a conservative, mean-spirited, extreme, cold-hearted, cruel, racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe! Right, Bill. That’s what you think of Newt. Newt, let me tell you what’s going to happen here. If this plan were to succeed and let’s say through the magic of Health Care for America you and Hillary manage to unify the country, I hate to say this, but I say it with love and respect, it will be Hillary that will be given full, 100% credit for it. Newt will be portrayed as somebody who tried to tag along. Newt will be portrayed as somebody who’s trying to soften his image and show off his compassionate side. If anybody thinks that anybody other than Hillary Clinton is going to get any credit whatsoever if this country is unified — and that’s a joke anyway. She’s the most partisan person in the country! She causes more political division in the country than anybody around possibly could. She’s going to draw more negative turnout if she actually ends up being their nominee — something I’m not guaranteeing, but if she ends up as their nominee — she’s going to cause more negative turnout than anybody has ever seen in this country.
The idea that she’s a unifier? It’s a crock. Everybody is trying to share some of her light and it’s only the light of spin. It’s the light of spin that the media gets. McCain’s trying to sidle up to her and Lindsey Graham is trying to sidle up to her and Chuck Hagel. They all want to be seen in her glow, they all want to be reflected in her light, the essence, if you will and I for one do not understand the naïveté on the part of anybody who thinks this light. It’s going to be darkness. You get into the sphere of Hillary Clinton you get consumed with darkness, because she soaks up all the light. She soaks up all the oxygen with the media. If and when she becomes the candidate, there’s not going to be anybody else that matters and nobody who has participated in her or anything is going to be given any credit for it so all this is serving to do is elevate and advance her, but the idea that she can unify the country that’s the biggest joke that I’ve heard come down the pike since I’ve been hosting the program…
Rush has a point?
What say you Newt?
Hat Tip: Huggington Post
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
