Using his 'little Grey Cells'.

When the Boss Comes to Town! – Liberals Awake!

Woooof, Bruce was in Montréal last night. And your favorite Dudley was on location, barking and jumping up and down like a ... Mad Dog! Mind you, I kinda knew what to expect: that was my 6th Bruuuuuuce sighting since the 80/81 “River” tour. Sure, the Man and the E Street Band don’t do those 4 hour-long marathons anymore, but the guys still know how to raise the roof – and a Kennel Club!

You pups can read the reviews for yourselves, but here are a few highlights, especially for my Hamilton litter mates. The E Band opened with Night, which was a special treat for old dogs like yours truly. What really got my tail wagging, though, was hearing Roy Bittan pawing the opening notes of Because the Night ... In 28 years of Springsteen live-spotting, I had never seen him doing Because. And then on with She’s the One, The Promised Land and a clearly-audible Darkness on the Edge of Town. Of course, the show ended with Badlands.

On for the encore. Same as usual: 30 minutes of Born to Run, Dancing in the Dark, other fun stuff, and a gutt-wrenching rendition of Jungleland – the whole nine-yards-ten-minutes version, including a much too short 4 minute solo by the now 66 year old Big Man. The guys left us with that sweet Irish-sounding immigrant song American Land.

Oh! By the way! For all my Grit friends out there: Bruce made a point of telling us about the lying-war-mongering-censorshiping-wire-tapping-Guantanamo-ing stuff that’s been going on down south for 7 years now. Rings a bell for us in the Great White North? – Cadman anyone? – Censorship anyone? Let’s not wait too long. Save Canada. Throw Harper out!

Let’s Grit-it up. Let’s ALL get behind Stéphane Dion. Let’s stop the internal fighting. Look in the mirror and repeat after me: Liberal is not a 4-letter word. Let’s get rid of those Tories!

Grit-up! Wag-on.

Yours barking,

Dudley.

ps.: picture courtesy of www.backstreets.com

Introducing Michael Fortier: Typical Tory!

Will He Run, or won’t He?

Meet the Honorable Michael Fortier, Minister of Public Works and Government Services. Fortier is the ultimate Tory. Proponent of a reformed triple E Senate. Champion of accountability. Hero - should I say Herald - of Canadian democracy ... Conservative style ...

Thing is: Apparently, the Honorable Fortier rarely shows up in the Non-Triple-E Higher Chamber. Therefore, He doesn’t have to answer any question (accountability anyone?). And never mind voting on anything!

Fortier is a true and tested democrat. Way back in February 2006, days after the last Federal election, Honorable Mike declared: "I didn't run in the election because I didn't want to run in the election" – courtesy of CBC. How sweet it is ... to believe in democracy !!!!

Well! We have at least three by-elections coming up soon, here in our fair Province of Québec, Including one in Outremont. Here’s our question: Mr. Honorable Fortier, will you run???? Will you ... Or will you just collect your Senate paycheck until the next general election? We dare Ya!!!

Let’s do the Grit-Wag,
Dudley

Apocalypse Now version Baird 07

Coming soon to a TV set near you: Kyoto: Doomsday Device. Canada. 2007. Dramatic-Comedy-Documentary. Starring John Baird. In this long awaited adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s “The Heart of Darkness”, Canada’s Environment Minister explains how implementing the Kyoto Protocol would bring about the end of civilization as we know it. Parental discretion is advised. Gas mask required!

How Stupid Can You Get?

Just ask John McCain, he’ll sing it to you!

Right on the Money

Would you believe it, Chantal Hébert in today's (January 24, 2007)Toronto Star got it right.

"These days, Quebec's influence within Canada is increasingly more useful to France's self-interest than its existence outside of it could be."

Bravo Chantal!
Three tails up for you!
Willy

Shut up Segolène! Taisez-vous madame!

Les canadiens n'ont que faire de vos commentaires et de vos états d'âme sur un pays –je parle du Canada– dont vous ne semblez à peu près rien connaître. Tenez-vous en à la France!
Me permettez-vous un conseil?
Mêlez-vous de vos affaires!

"Here we go again
singing a song of love again....".

Remember the lyrics of this old song?
No! It was not written to depict the loves of "péquistes" with some French politicians who still live in their dream of "grandeur". I know that for "les péquistes" --from Lévesque to Boisclair-- it is very important to be seen in France with any French politician. Good for them. But, do these "tête-à-tête" bring contracts to our factories, put bread on the table of our workers?
Let's be realistic: we cannot expect much from France if anything. French politicians may sing love songs to Quebeckers but French businessmen invest mostly in other provinces.

Monsieur Boisclair –nom générique du péquiste-type – et ses pareils se plaisent à nous répéter que les québécois décideront seuls de leur avenir. Donc, monsieur Boisclair cessez de rechercher l'approbation puérile de nos soit-disant "cousins". Vous vous ridiculisez et par la même occasion vous nous faites honte en vous comportant comme un "quêteux".

Two tails down,
Willy

Well, well: the Dion Effect in Québec !!!

Would you look at that: Here are the results of the first poll conducted here in Québec since Stéphane Dion won the Liberal Leadership. The Poll was conducted by Léger Marketing for TVA and Le Journal de Montréal (all of them sorta-separatist leaning):

Bloc Québécois: 37% (-2);
Liberals: 35% (+9);
Tories: 17% (-3);
NDP: 6% (-4).

Everyone went down - Except for us grits of course (+9)!!!!

Of course, there's always a Convention Bump (aka the Honeymoon). Still, the naysayers, the pundits and the self-proclaimed nationalist intelligentsia might want to revise their position. That's right, they're the ones who claimed that Stéphane Dion did not stand a chance in hell of winning the grit convention. They were proven wrong.

Only Yesterday, Bernard-he-of-the-red-rag-Landry declared that Dion's victory was a great step towards separation! He will be proven wrong as well!

For the first time over 2 years, the Liberal Party of Canada gets 35% here in Québec.

That TVA journalist, Paul Larocque, calls it L'Effet DION. My old Mom said "it's only a start!"

Wag on,

Dudley.

Same-Sex Marriage: Free Vote or Not?

In short: NO!! Same-Sex Marriage is not a question of value; it is not a matter of ideology. The only question is: does the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom override the opinion of individual MPs? The answer is clear: YES! An older statesman once said: a Right is a Right is a Right. I agree.

The courts have made it clear that section 15 of the Charter (equality rights) does not allow discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Case closed. The only way the matter can be revisited is by using the notwithstanding clause.

Do Liberals want to re-open the debate and then use section 33 of the Charter? I don't.

Therefore, the Leader of the Official Opposition should not allow a free vote on the upcoming governmental motion. Period. No free vote.

Wag the vote

D.