Jack Layton = Mr. Irrelevant?

The Gomery report has been out for a few days now.
And I'm sure someone somewhere has talked about this.
But the wonderful (just ask him) Jack Layton, the leader of Canada's national Socialist party, the NDP, may just have the feeling of Mr. Irrelevant right about now.
It's a matter of mathematics.
Layton doesn't have the numbers to continue to prop up the incorrigibly corrupt Liberal government of Paul Martin Jr., even if he wanted to.
If he has half a brain that works, he has to realize that.
Remember, the vote on the last non-confidence motion back in April was a tie, broken by the Speaker of the House.
Since then, Chuck Cadman (God rest his soul), who voted to keep the government in operation, has died. That's one vote the Libs have to make up.
Since then, also, Layton turfed one of his shadow ministers, Bev Desjarlais of Manitoba, over same-sex marriage. The NDP has a candidate to run in Desjarlais' riding, even though she is likely to run as an independent (and quite possibly win). She owes Layton nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. She has to be in play as a potential new voter for no confidence.
So, too, does Carolyn Parrish, even though the bastard isn't likely to go that route... unless she really decides to go out of Commons with a bang and put it to Martin Jr.
And there's Pat O'Brien, the Londoner who left the Liberal caucus over SSM. Again, I don't think he's a strong candidate to topple the Martinites, but he has to be considered in play in any no-confidence vote.
Finally, there's Ed Broadbent. The veteran NDPer paired himself with an absent Conservative so he would not have to break party discipline and follow his conscience to topple the Martinites in April. What guarantee is there now... especially with the rumour mill churning tales of Martin-Layton talks of merging the Libs and the NDP... that Broadbent won't bolt? There is none, or not much of one anyway. Again, I don't think it's something I'd wager a lot on, but Broadbent has to be seen as in play.
That's too many variables for a megalomaniacal oligarch like Martin.
So, Jack, your gig is up. You're not going to get your deals, and your party's ratings have been tanking.
Ladies and gentlemen, say a big Canadian hello to Mr. Irrelevant, Jack Layton!

Double standard time

Michael Steele will be running for the U.S. Senate in Maryland in 2006.
What makes this especially interesting is that Steele is a Republican, Maryland's lieutenant governor... and black.
And, oh, the lefties are gunning for him, along with their allies in the Democratic Party.
Racial insults, such as "Uncle Tom", will be the norm now for the next year.
Catch this from one Maryland Democrat...
Delegate Salima Siler Marriott, a black Baltimore Democrat, said Mr. Steele invites comparisons to a slave who loves his cruel master or a cookie that is black on the outside and white inside because his conservative political philosophy is, in her view, anti-black.
"Because he is a conservative, he is different than most public blacks, and he is different than most people in our community," she said. "His politics are not in the best interest of the masses of black people."
During the 2002 campaign, Democratic supporters pelted Mr. Steele with Oreo cookies during a gubernatorial debate at Morgan State University in Baltimore.
In 2001, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. called Mr. Steele an "Uncle Tom," when Mr. Steele headed the state Republican Party. Mr. Miller, Prince George's County Democrat, later apologized for the remark.
"That's not racial. If they call him the "N' word, that's racial," Mrs. Marriott said. "Just because he's black, everything bad you say about him isn't racial."
One thing, Mrs. Marriott -- does that mean that any criticism of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc. is always racial when it comes from someone who isn't black?
Hypocrites.

Evil genius, phase 1

Oh, those Senate Democrats and lefties think they're soooooooooooooo smart.
They've fallen right into Karl Rove's evil plot to entrap them and discredit Joe Wilson once and for all.
Now, the GOP calls public hearings, puts Joe Wilson under oath and boom! Perjury time!
The discreditor is permanently discredited.
The left is permanently exposed as hopelessly anti-American.
Bye, bye, Dems!

Happy 60th, U.N.

A precision guided humour assignment

This is the 60th anniversary of the founding of that noted centre for graft and corruption... er, for world peace and harmony... the United Nations.
What can we, the people of the world, do to commemorate this sad day... er, glorious occasion?
We can shoot off 60 rockets... right into the building (not being homicidal, make sure it's evacuated first). Then build the U.N. a new home... atop a landfill (er, burial ground) in western Iraq. Or Paris. Or Chernobyl. Not New Orleans, though. The Crescent City deserves better.
We can offer Kofi Annan, the U.N. secretary general and general all-around crook... er, statesman... a free 60-year stay in the finest maximum security prison in the U.S. of A. If Marion was good enough for Pete Rose and John Gotti, it's good enough for ol' Kofi, for sure.
But the best present we here in the U.S. of A. can give the U.N. is nothing. Not a dollar. The place would certainly collapse.

Catching up

It's been a busy few days.
But we're back.
* The Gomery report comes out today. Paul Martin Jr. will be somewhat vindicated... but only somewhat, because we all know he's a micromanager and really knew what the Chretienites were doing - and didn't he do basically the same thing with Earnscliffe?
* Samuel Alito will face a fight to be confirmed as the new Supreme Court justice. But he's a Phillies fan, which should automatically qualify him without further ado. This is the fight the conservatives have wanted since the Roberts confirmation. Bring it on, leftoids.
* One big disappointment with the Oil-For-Food report: We knew all along that France and Russia were big beneficiaries of Saddam's largesse. But where was the Canadian influence in all this? Oh, I forgot, Paul Volcker - the author of the report - is friendly with the Power Corp. gang. 'Nuff said.
* Francisco Franco is still dead.