Sunday, February 11, 2007

A Country Mouse in the City

Whooee! Well friends, on Friday night, I hauled my ass inta Trawna (centre o' the universe) an' met up with sum o' the leadin' lights o' the Canajun boogeysphere. Ol' Zorpheous was there an' it was Zorf who invited this here hick t' get outta Nanticoke an' t' go 't where the air is cleaner - Yonge an' Blur. Thankee fer the invite, ZorfMan.

Also settin' 'round the dinner table with Zorf, Mrs. Zorf an' ol' JimBobby, was the Canajun Cynic, Buckets o' Grewal an' the charmin' Mrs. Buckets, Antonia Zerbisias from the Trawna Star, Ian Scott, BigCityLib, the BCer inTO, Chet who writes The Vanity Press an' his missus. Mostly, it was fellers an' gals who park their polyticks on the left side o' the fence. No fights broke out.

Well, we talked 'bout stuff like boogin' comments gabfests an' the commentin' trolls who sumtimes make life miserable fer Canajun boogers. An' we talked 'bout how boogs can influence the voters come an electionvote. Sum of us boogers who got a secret identity talked 'bout how we almost been caught an' exposed fer who we really are.

We also talked 'bout the meltin' glaciers an' Greenland slidin' inta the ocean an' methane gas escapin' from the meltin' permafrost an' other bad stuff. We toasted (no pun intended) the end o' the world.

I s'pose it was a little bit of a surprise fer these here boogers when they seen JimBobby could move 'round in Trawna without drawin' any tension. I reckon sum of 'em thought they was gonna see a hayseed in a plaid shirt an' bib overalls. I left that outfit home an' wore a sweater an' blue jeans an' I let James Robert do most o' the talkin' fer JimBobby.

Anyways, I reckon the onliest ones interested in what a buncha Canajun boogers done last Friday is the bunch who was there. Us boogers has gotta purty high opinion of ourselves an' gettin' together fer a group pat-on-the-back is good fer the egos. I'm ready fer the next booger pub night whenever the Trawna gang sez.

Yores trooly,
JimBobby

7 comments:

bigcitylib said...

It was a good time wasn't it? We two didn't get much time to talk, but I tend to be the plant-yourself-in-a-chair-and-drink-beer kind of guy. Next go-round, hopefully.

Anonymous said...

Well, Super Greeniac: I wound up going to a climate change thingee featuring your hero Elizabeth May.

Fairly informative, although not well organized or moderated.

JimBobby said...

Whooee! I been gettin' the selfsame vibes from the GPC, BillyBoy. I reckon they're tryin' t' stretch their bucks an' mostly they're usin' grassroots volunteers in positions where the bigass parties got paid staffers.

The GPC brass is gearin' up fer a early electionvote an' they got this idea o' fairness that has 'em dividin' up their dough evenly t' 308 ridin's. I say they oughta ID a seat or two that they can win an' pour the money in.

I been publicatin' the Green Boogers boogroll fer weeks an' I applied fer membership 4 times an' even emailed 'em 'bout it. So far, nuthin'.

The GPC don't stand a chance o' formin' a gummint anytime soon but they oughta be jumpin' on any chance t' sign up new members an' t' increase their base. The iron's hot but they ain't poundin' hard enuff, sez I.

JB

Anonymous said...

The event was sponsored by the Law Union of Ontario.

May was one of four speakers. The others were Toronto city councillor Gord Perks, Keith Stewart of the World Wildlife Fund and Donald Goldberg of the Centre for International Environmental Law.

Interesting what you say about the Greens. One of the reason they attract votes is because they run candidates in every federal riding, but how many of those candidates are university students?

Strategically, it would make sense to identify areas where they stand a chance of winning and focusing on those.

But if they can't get around to signing people up as members, that doesn't bode well.

JimBobby said...

Whooee! Thankee fer that, BillFeller. It's Green Bloggers Blogroll that I'm havin' troublems with. The GPC itself is quick enuff when it comes t' signin; members.

Sumpin' that I heard a short while back is that only 'bout 9% o' Canajuns is card-carryin' polytickle party members -- that's fer all the parties. Lotsa Canajun voters might usually vote one way or anuther but they don't join the party an' pay dues an' all.

The whole strategy o' runnin' a candidate in 308 ridin's had t' do with gettin' past teh Elections Canadee 2% threshold fer receivin' teh $1.75 per voter from the publick purse. In 2004, the strategy paid off. The troublem was they'd borrowed against the furure EC fundin' an' the money was spent before they got it. I give Jimmy Harris credit, though. It put the GPC on the national radar.

They "need" the EC money and if they were t' run only a few candidates in winnable ridin's, they might not get the 2% popuar vote. But... they might get a member sittin'.

Right now, I'm tryin' t' wrap my head 'round the idea that us Greens is gonna be the ones who split the ABC vote an' deliver King Steve a majority. It makes me queasy but I ain't 'bout t' vote strategic again. I done that once an' it didn't prevent the one I was votin' against from winnin'. I felt sorta sick t' my stomach 'bout wastin' my vote.

JB

Anonymous said...

I keep telling myself, "read twice, post once," and I violated my own advice -- again!! Aggh!!

One can run lots of candidates, but you spend your money where you think you can win.

In certain parts of Saskatchewan, the NDP essentially ran sacrificial lambs against the Saskatchewan Party -- the stereotypical third-year poli sci student and treasurer of the campus NDP club. But they ran in every constituency.

For a party like the Greens, yes, you want people running across the country, but realistically, only a handful of those have even a shot at getting elected.

You're right about party membership. Most Canadians don't belong to one.

JimBobby said...

Whooee! Yer right 'bout pourin' the bulk o' the bucks where they got a haffassed chance o' winning.
I'm startin' t' get a little worried the electionvote'll get sprung this spring an' the Greenies might not be ready.

I ain't too keen on seein' us spend 'bout $20 mil t' have anuther electionvote so dang soon. I figger that money could buy some windmills or hybrid cars fer the civil service.

JB