Misc. Short HIts

In the midst of a week of various meetings, catch-up, and the drafting of some upcoming speeches so free time for creative thought on this page is limited. Hence a quick entry commenting on a few of this morning's headlines....

Bloggers are mostly male: Not quite sure that blogging provides the thrill in the extreme sport sort of way, is the modern equivalent of marking your territory, or a forum to express immature opinionated behaviour, but if Margaret Wente says so, it must be true.

Opposition Kudos: So those free mailings you receive from Members of Parliament (not always your own) affectionately known as "10 per centers" have been voted away by the Opposition saving the taxpayers up to $20 million per year. I find it ironic that the arguments against these were essentially that the Conservatives have improved the art of using these as politically effective ammunition much better than their opponents, hence the opponents vote to take away this weapon. Seems to me if you want to improve in the game of warfare, you learn from the opponent and copy their best practices. However, as a taxpayer, I fully agree this had degenerated into a public waste of time and money so kudos to their elimination.

Polls, Schmolls..... Another day, another poll. I would be lying if I said I did not pay attention to the polls but to me the top of line numbers are not that important. The poll question usually is, "If an election were held today...." Fact is, an election is not being held today and even if it were called today, a six week election campaign will follow. In our present political climate, the campaign will determine the outcome of the next election. Polls presently are primarily helpful in understanding the various subtexts which drive public opinion (what segments of the population think about particular characteristics or issues); testing what issues in the news create responses in the population and which do not resonate; and who has momentum (and who does not.)

Time to get back to the stuff I get paid to do....