The silver lining is so tiny you can barely see it

[ciroccoj]

• Another five years of John Baird's pamphlets periodically "asking" me what I think of his government's kick-ass policies. Do I agree with "making criminals pay!" and "ensuring our economic security!" and "protecting Canada's future!"
  
  What am I supposed to say?
  
  Every time I get one of these things, I'm reminded of Tom Lehrer, who said during the sixties that you really had to admire the courage of the protest singers who would stand up in a crowd and sing songs in favour of all those things that everyone else was against, like freedom, and peace, and brotherhood.
  
  Chris and I generally make paper hats and airplanes and the occasional boat out of the pamphlets. We don't answer them. Mostly they're unanswerable, because they're not really about anything. They're just a bunch of buzz words that sound awesome: Freedom. Security. Prosperity.
  
  _____________________________________
  The Conservatives are in favour of Canada staying strong. Do YOU think that Canada should stay strong?
  
  [ ] YES, I think the Conservatives will make Canada strong!
  [ ] No.
  _____________________________________
  
  Seriously. Who's actually gonna fill the No ticky box?
  
  Actually, Chris and I do, if the wording allows, whenever we get the chance. We just pencil in what we believe next to the ticky box, and send it back to Baird.
  
  _____________________________________
  The Conservatives are in favour of getting tough on crime. Do YOU believe we should be tough on crime?
  
  [ ] YES. Not letting criminals off easy will keep us safe!
  
  [X] No. Keeping criminals in jail as long as possible is only an expensive way to make them better criminals. We prefer to keep ourselves safe at a lower cost, by providing them with job training, education, and a parole system that works, rather than warehousing them at a high cost to the taxpayers and then unleashing them upon us with no skills or controls on their whereabouts. It's the choice between feeling righteously vengeful against criminals, versus doing something to actually keep ourselves safer. We'll choose society's safety over kneejerk vengeful glee, thanks.
  _____________________________________
  
  Nobody reads it, but it makes us feel good and we don't pay postage 'cause it's government mail.
  
  OK, we do pay postage, 'cause it's our tax money that pays for government mail. But considering the ginormous waste of our tax dollars getting this drivel out to us in the first place, we figure fair's fair.
  
  Oh, God, four more years of this crap. I'm going back to bed.
  
  
• Oh, yeah, and the NDP is the official opposition and Elizabeth May just became the first elected Green MP in Canada's history. I'll celebrate those victories once I no longer feel nauseated.