Washington Post weighs in on Harper's victory - A Defeat for Anti-Americanism

A Defeat for Anti-Americanism

What the Washington Post and other commentators don't seem to recognize is that the Conservative Party won with a total electoral support of 36%, a mandate that isn't much worth it's name. While I hope Mr. Harper performs well as our Prime Minister, and wish him the best in his endeavours to strengthen Canada, let's not forget that 2/3 of Canadians didn't think he represented their views, and he'll have to work hard to bring our voices in.

The Conservative Party is in power because voters wanted a change, not because voters appreciate what Mr. Harper and his party have to offer. We're willing to give him a chance, but only so far.

Don't Cry for Canada - why a Conservative Government in Canada isn';t the end of the world

Don't Cry for Canada

A good article from "The Nation", an American journal, provides a good assessment on the reality of the political situation in Canada, and cautions the conservative far-right movement not to get too excited about any "seismic shifts" in Canadian social policy. Sure, we voted in the conservative party, who promised they wouldn't be "too conservative" while cleaning up government. Just to make sure, we also voted in a strong left-wing watchdog to make sure they don't do anything stupid. We called for change for change's sake - because the Liberals have done wrong - not because of any profound social realignment. The right-wing movement in Canada would also do well to remember that.

As usual, Canada will continue moving straight up the middle, encompassing the best of both worlds.

Best Blonde Joke ever.

This is a great blonde joke. Best I've ever seen! Made me laugh for hours.

Random Acts Of Reality :: Blonde Joke

Wonderful list of Design Quotes

One Plus One Equals Three: Design is...

A wonderful list of design quotes can be found here. For example:

“In design sometimes one plus one equals three.”
Josef Albers.

“Good design is a Renaissance attitude that combines technology, cognitive science, human need and beauty to produce something.”
Paola Antonelli, Museum of Modern Art.

“It's not rocket science. It's social science – the science of understanding people's needs and their unique relationship with art, literature, history, music, work, philosophy, community, technology and psychology. The act of design is structuring and creating that balance.”
Clement Mok.

“...some graphic designers don’t just pick colours and take orders for typefaces.”
Chip Kidd.

“Everything is design. Everything!”
Paul Rand.

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains and sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”
Steve Jobs, Apple Computer.

“Graphic design is a filtering process.”
Muriel Cooper.

"Design depends largely on constraints.”
Charles Eames.

“Designers solve problems for clients. Artists solve problems for humanity. The latter is the greatest problem.”
John Maeda.

"Style = Fart.”
Stefan Sagmeister.

"Form follows function – that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.”
Frank Lloyd Wright.

“I see this as a business that affects people's lives and affects people's brains.”
Tibor Kalman.

“Think more, design less.”
Ellen Lupton.

"Design is creation in or alteration of the world to meet the needs and desires of people.”
Dirk Knemeyer, Thread Inc.

"it is the pervading law of all things organic... of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function.”
Louis Sullivan

“The most important skill for almost everyone in the next decade and beyond will be the ability to create valuable, compelling and empowering information and experiences for others.”
Nathan Shedroff.

"When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.”
Buckminster Fuller.

platforme.pdf (application/pdf Object)

platforme.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Platform (?) of the Liberal Party of Canada, leaked to the Western Standard in the wee hours of the morning. Is this the real thing, an early draft, or something else entirely? We'll wait for the liberal spin machine to fire into gear to explain how this ended up on the internet ahead of schedule.

There are some interesting things. Page 5 gives us a breakdown of "the way things were" versus "the way things are" from 1993 to 2005, showing positive trends all, though otherwise blanking out variable dips and movement in all of these figures. For example, the paper presents the dollar as having moved from $0.75 to $0.86 USD over the 12 years, without noting the drop to $0.62 USD just a couple years ago. How many more of these figures have been skewed by relatively recent phenomena, and how much of these improvement can really be laid at the feet of the governing party? Has "a vicious circle ... been transformed into a virtuous circle" (p. 9) by the Liberals?

The rest of the policy statements look very interesting and socially progressive, though I think the discussion on health care continues to be reactive rather than progressively working on preventative care. I also find the statement that "cancer is the leading cause of premature death in Canada" (p. 14) interesting, as Statistics Canada reports that it is heart disease that holds that distinction, with cancer a close second. Though I may be wrong. Of note, death by automobile pulls in at 1% of all total deaths per year.

The discussion on public and private health care is a bit disingenious. on page 17, the Liberals unveil their "Public Health Care Protection Initiative" which sounds lovely, but there are so many caveats and sub-cluases that I find it hard to think any of it would ever be enforced. As an example:

Consider it a violation of the Canada Health Act if a physician provides the same medically-necessary services to some patients on a privately paid basis and others on a publicly-insured (medicare) basis, if such “dual practice” undermines access to publicly-insured services. (p. 17 - emphasis added)

Good luck trying to determine if the dual-practise undermines the public health system. That sounds like discretionary oversight and at least a decades worth of court battles to figure that one out.

I am reasonably pleased with the education intiatives the Liberals are rolling out as well, particularly with some of the intitiatives on reducing the front-end debt burden - the obstacle on University entry caused by high tuition fees, though much more still needs to be done to bring equity back into the University entrance system and ensure schools compete for students based on quality, and affluence. (Forgiving past debt loads would also be nice... hint hint)

The platform is rather shallow on the discussion of cities - what about investments in critical infrastructure, FULL sharing of the gas tax (not half!), finding new revenue sources for cities to work with? Not to much mention, beyond trupeting of the New Deal.

All in all, it seems to be a reasonable and balanced portfolio, with a few interesting surprises (weapons in space ban) and some glaring omissions (removal of notwithstanding clause). Not the disjointed, unclear document the Convservative Party would have us believe, but a good document to run on.