overthere

You are probably too young to recognize that what we are seeing right now is the same-old same old. Harper was the aberration, Trudeau is just a return to tax big, spend bigger. Even the names remain the same.

Then why do the World Championships have poor TV ratings every year? And do I cheer for the Canadian team, or the other team with a lot of Canadians on it? No, it is a marketing event to promote the NHL and make money- and to distract from the reality that it is unlikely that . Canuclkistanis love hockey, but the Winter Olys overall are a poor cousin to the Summer Games. Looks like both the NHL and the IOC have made their decision, and it is purely economic. There are many players in the KHL that would have played in this World Cup, so it will be even more watered down. The timing is pretty terrible for the players. The reason the KHL won't go to the World Cup is the same reason the NHL won't go to the Olympics: no benefit as in no money.

Your repeated and incorrect assertion that Harper moved the party, the country to the right. That boogeyman, the same one that was beaten to death for years from the moment the Con Party was formed. He could not have won a majority by doing so. You'll have to come up with somebody new to hate irrationally. Maybe put a tooth under your pillow, all your wishes will come true and you might get a (devalued) loonie too.

The Senate will not be any problem at all pretty soon. Trudeau has appointed a committee of Liberal sympathizers to approve a whole crew of "not Liberals" who will always vote Liberal. Between those and the'not Liberal Liberals' already there, he has an easy majority in the Senate. I used to think the Senate was a stumbling block, but it will not be. Trudeau had to sort that out, or he'd get nothing passed, not just his wet dream of ranked ballots. But he was not expecting the fairly visceral and widespread reaction to the 'no referendum' movement. It must have been a terrible shock to realize that he could not simply rule by decree, even with a majority. Ever once in a blue moon, the sheep do indeed look up. Of course, there is a Plan B, and the recompostion of the electoral reform party is part of it. I suspect they have struck a deal with the NDP to get support for ranked ballots. The NDP are in a death spiral, and they make out not too bad with a ranked ballots option. They are simply not going to get their preferred option of proportional representation, because the Liberals will certainly go to the next election with FPTP rather than even consider any form of proprep- it is bad news all around proprep for the Libs- very hard to get the majorities that are their natural destiny. The NDP know they are leaderless, rudderless and now adrift after the last election and last convention. They also know that another elction with FPTP could be much worse for them. So, no proprep, no FPTP and that leaves them with.... ranked ballots. The question that has no public answer yet: what is Trudeau giving them for their committee and Commons support? Why does that matter to the Liberals, who have a majority and can essentially do what they want with electoral reform, or more accurately can pass ranked ballots with or without any Commons support from other parties? Because Trudeau can then bypass a referendum, because he can claim that he has enough consensus, enough consultation, and the support of another major party.

A big reason is that there is much less frivolous timewasting by patients in the French system. A visit to your GP in FRance requires a user payment of 15 or 20 Euros. The state covers the rest of the medical cost.. If you are truly and demonstrably poor, the user fee is covered by the state. The net result is that there is much better use of Physician resources, so the system can afford more..... physicians that attend to actual sickness. GPs do not have to be babysitters for hypochondriacs, nor are they amateur psychiatrists as they do for the needy and lonely that crowd Canadian waiting rooms to have a conversation with a sympathetic ear. Of course, in Canada, any suggestion whatsoever of 'user pay' schemes result in howls of outrage by the ironically named 'Friends Of Medicare' crowd, and immediate harsh penalties from the federal govt to the offending province. The problem in Canad is not a health management problem, it is-as always- political. We are overall very, very poor managers of our own economic welfare.

All of which is impossible, with the ranked ballots we will shortly see as law. The Tories could run Ghandhi as leader and would still lose.

Harper moved the party to the center. That is how he gained a majority. Park the old boogeyman meme, it just doesn't work any more. If the Cons seek votes, they need to do what they did at the recent convention - be seen to be socially liberal. They were socially liberal during Harpers term as PM, but were seen by the simpleminded as something else. They also need to be fiscally conservative, something they were not during Harpers term. Both elements have considerable appeal to taxpayers.

It has little resonance overall or appeal to nationalism, with two of the teams not affiliated with countries. It should be entertaining hockey, but simply cannot be as compelling as Olympic hockey. Fans will certainly notice the difference. The co-sponsors-who will both take profit from the 'World Cup- are the NHL and the players union NHLPA. The existence of this tournament is a pretty clear message that the NHL or its players have no intention of attending the next winter Olympics. I don't think the players/NHL need or want to profit directly from attending the Olympics, but now they have to pay some very substantial costs out of their pockets- a new policy of IIHF and the IOC- they have strong reasons not to participate. The money made off Olympic hockey is now headed straight into IOC pockets. The World Cup is a stopgap.

Recently- The Drop. One of James Gandolfinis last roles, though the star is Tom Hardy in an adaptation of a Dennis Lehane book.

But now the Cons are evil bastards who are breaking the heart of the doomed and ill MP who has brought the bill to the floor. They only interrupt their eating of live puppies in the Commons cafeteria long enough to come the the Commons and heckle the guy in the wheelchair.

Neither do the prices matter much. Paying a couple million for a house is normal for people living in Hong Kong. Of course, very few actually live in houses in Hong Kong since owning land is reserved for the very, very rich- not run of the mill millionaires. No, they look for homes in places where it is relatively cheap like Vancouver. The p[rice of oil has been sub-$20 far more in the last 25 years than over $20, and it is now hovering around $50. It is a volatile market, always has been. Shrug. The cost of producing a barrel in many of the newer steam assisted deve Housing prices and markets in Canada are very regional and frequently quite disconnected from other regions and disconnected from US events. lopments(all common now in AB) is around $10/ barrel. The Saudis are not the greatest enemy of the Canadian resource industry. The enemy is all Canadian, all homegrown.The price of oil dropped dramatically, the price of houses in Edmonton are down 2% year over year.

I am so excited they have spent several scarce days of time in the Commons debating this subject, which is of the utmost national importance.

and they did already have a major battle, and have either killed and thereby recruited many Wildling warriors in that battle in the port when Jon Snow and Tormund effected a partial rescue. It was a double win for the Walkers, they killed and kept a lot of Wildings, and those who escaped were largely women and children. That burdens the remaining warriors by impairing their fighting capacity. They drove an old and tough enemy completely out.

Barney is a better fielder than Travis. So is Goins(better than Travis). Travis has not yet lit it up yet at the plate- .259 is OK but he has had very few AB. The absence of Tulo has been kind of lucky for the Jays. They have not missed him in the field or at the plate, and it gives them a chance to assess Travis in particular. It is quite possible he ends up in Buffalo for a while. If he catches fire soon, see ya Goins. I don't see Barney going anywhwere soon- it will be Goins or Travis, and it depends on Travis. Its a good kind of problem to have for the Jays. And yes, that was a fine play that Travis made last night when the ball went past Smoak and -surprise- Travis was right there. Sanchez was also very good in that he did not stop running to 1B to catch the throw. Coaches love that shit: nobody gives up on the play. I like it too.

"Listened" is one possibility, but the least likely. And it may well be none of these: "weakness, or good government or accommodation" Electoral reform- the wonderful kind that gets Liberals elected easily to another majority in 2019- is their #1 legislative priority. That won't change. Lets face it, the 'consultation' blarney on reform is a sham, one they are obliged to mount because this is 2016 and He promised. Ranked ballots were and are the only choice of the Liberals, but they were really not prepared for the vociferous and widespread opposition to them ramming this through, which they could do quite easily. They really want to avoid having a referendum, the kind of participation and input and consultation that 70% of Canadians say they would like to see. So, how can that be acheived now? This latest change in the committee has two contending possibilities to enable ranked ballots. The first is that they are stalling, perhaps for a short term, perhaps until 2019. The Liberals would much rather fight an election again on FPTP than have a referendum on ranked ballots. The committee can blither and blather on indefinitely. If by some miracle they do reach an end to, it can aways be shuffled off or a new committee formed to delay. It is what Trudeau does with pipelines and weed, why not his own re election campaign? The second possibility is more intriguing. Chantal Hebert mentioned this one a few weeks ago. What if the Liberals got another party behind them on ranked ballots. Implementing them (ranked ballots) does not legally need a referendum, it does not need Constituional change. But it is now apparent it does need wider support, it needs to be seen as having a social licence and somebody anybody that will support them. And who might that be? Well, it might be the NDP. The NDP are in trouble and the forecast is grim. They have slipped in seats, slid in the polls, don't have a leader and their last convention left them fractured and weak and vulnerable..... And.... ranked ballots don't hurt them all that badly. Has a deal been made between Liberal and NDP. What does the NDP want that the Liberals can give them? Will the LiIberals act on ranked ballots sans referendum if they can stand with the NDP in the Commons and claim: social licence? We shall see.....

I don't think Barney has ever played anything but infield: SS and 2B- as a pro. Carrerra is their only outfield backup now, and he is not the greatest fielder . Smoak has never played outfield, and EE has justa few games there. I think they are both too slow for the outfield anyway. But if either EE or Smoak gets injured, I could see Bautista moving in to play 1B again(or DH) and Barney in RF. It is hard to take Barneys bat out of the game when he is hitting at this pace.

Yep, we have instituted a perfect system of public fiscal 'management' that can only end in tears and municipal/provincial bankruptcy. How can Ontario sustain its debt and deificts?

Like nearly everybody else in this serpentine plot, they are gathering strength. I don't think the Walkers know or care about who wins or loses Winterfell. All of those warriors are future Walkers. They currently have an unbeatable lineup of agile zombies. Every enemy they kill joins them. Their own troops are nearly immortal. And from Episode One, Winter Is Coming.

Good luck to him. Maybe some time in rehab, time with family, time away from Ottawa will be helpful, and he might be back in Cabinet at some point. At the risk of being culturally insensitive, Tootoo has lived and worked in the North for pretty much his whole life. All his former political career in Nunavut has been more or less nonpartisan, that is how they do things there. The culture shock of the brutally partisan Commons and Ottawa daily life might be a bit much, and he is far removed from the support of community. I wish him a speedy recovery.

The Walkers have been gathering strength and increasing numbers for a few years of GOT, and are getting more prominent in the plot as time goes on. I think it will take dragon fire and Bran- magic and all the combined Valerian steel in Westeros to off them. I don't see them having trouble climbing the wall. They fell off cliffs, and scuttled like cockroaches in previous attacks.

Goins is a goner at this point. With a fat bullpen roster, they cannot keep four middle infielders. But.... would Barney be OK as a DH? They don't really have anybody other than EE/Smoak, and one of those guys has to play first when the other is DH. Why not send down Tepara too, and leave a spot on the bench for a position guy? Goins is a great fielder but his traditional weakness at the plate is signing his ticket. He is also trade bait. I told you Barney was a fine fielder (Gold Glove!), and his bat would determine his future. They might be trying him out at leadoff soon. Travis needs a bit more time to settle in at the plate. He kind of reminds me of Pedroia- small frame but lots of power and skill all around. I'd like the Jays to find another catcher to replace Thole. It is really a hole in their lineup, he is totally a one dimensional player. The team is really showing signs of life.........

So the real battle, the end game with the epic threat of the White Walkers, is another series?

That is a bit of a false dichotomy. The choice is not between overpriced , quota driven local products and not buying Canadian. There are lots of Canadian farmers that would be delighted to compete for the CDN market. They simply do not have that option now.

I see Loup started right where he left off here. What happened to that guy? Or was his strong play an aberration that one year and this is normal?

Yeah, it costs almost nothing. I think a couple hundred K on a 2 mill salary, Atlanta pays the rest. We have to pay his bonuses if he achieves any. Who are they sending down? Tepara? Loup? Girodo?