Lotuslandian Strategic Voting....How It Works, Pt 1.

StoppingHarpageddon

OneStratVoteAtATimeVille

Well, it's just seven days to go until the General.

Which means it's time to kick off Strategic Voting Week here in Lotusland*.

How could this Strat-Voting thing actually work?

Well, we are going to show you with the next few posts.

And then, later in the week we will make comprehensive recommendations for those ridings where it does really matter (and those where it doesn't too, so that you can let your conscience run wild).

So, for our first primer, we're going to have a look at the riding of Vancouver Island North.

Here is our Strat-Vote recommendation from 2008:

Vancouver Island North - Vote Split Alert!!!!.....Greeniac Stone is a solid third but, like Liberal Fleischer, can NOT win.....Con Duncan is very, very close and/or maybe even slightly ahead.....Thus, please, please, please, do not hand one to Harper here..... to Stop The Con go with the Dipper Bell.

And here is what actually happened:

Canadian federal election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	John Duncan	26,166	45.78%	+5.17%	$76,173
	New Democrat	Catherine J. Bell	23,681	41.43%	-0.29%	$80,622
	Green	Philip Stone	4,563	7.98%	+3.14%	$12,309
	Liberal	Geoff Fleischer	2,391	4.18%	-8.65%	$2,026
	Independent	Jason Draper	361	0.63%		--
Total valid votes/Expense limit				100.00%		$109,871
	Conservative gain from New Democratic Party		Swing	+2.73

Now, to give the folks of the North Island their due, many of them did their best to Strat-Vote last time out because there was a big drop in Lib support from 2006. The trouble was, some of that soft Liberal vote actually went Con. And there was a Green gain as well, which tipped the balance that gave it to the Con.

So here's the thing....If you live in Courtenay, Comox, Campbell River, or Alert Bay and you don't want to be ruled by Harpies for the next 4 years, if you vote Green or Lib you are helping to doom yourself to it.

The choice here is stark because neither the Greeniac nor the Lib have a hope in heckfire of reaching 10%.

And that is how Stat Voting works.

OK?

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*Now, for my Dipper friends who are bound to give me a hard time for deciding to once again go down the Strat-Vote Road given big Jack's 'surge', please note that I have started with one that is designed to help an NDP candidate. Obviously, future examples and recommendations will involve taking away Dipper votes. My half-a-mamma-mea-culpa rationale for doing so can be found here.

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Harpageddon....How Close Is It, Really?

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...Really, Really Close.

Greg Morrow, who is both a clumper and a splitter when it comes to analyzing polling data, has the story.

****

Now......

So far I have kept quiet on the business of 'strategic voting' this time around.

Why?

Because I do want a government where the Dippers have real influence.

But even 25% and a major break through in La Belle Province for Jack Layton means nothing if Stephen Harper rubs Atlantic Canada into the boards, high sticks Ontario in the teeth, and then scalps Lotusland with a Wayne Makiavellian swing of the stick to the cranium to get that beat-'em-in-the-alley/politics-of-division-and-destruction-assisted majority.

Why all the hyperbole?

Because I am convinced that a four year Harpageddon style election cycle will do irreparable harm to the fabric of this country, its people, and its institutions.

Thus, I will soon start up another version of how to vote strategically in Lotusland, much like I did in 2008.

Stay tuned.

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In the meantime, Fern Hill, who has been slugging it out in the no holds barred StratVote Octagon the past week or so has a bunch of very useful linkology up here.

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BC Place....Who Pays For The $600,000,000 Big Tent Now?

HeadsTheyWin

TailsWeLoseVille

"PavCo relies on its sole shareholder to provide any capital investments in property to provide any capital investments in property, plant and equipment when required, to assist with operational funding"

PavCoFinancial Statements, 2010 (pg 10)

Which is all fine and good.

But.

What happens when that sole 'shareholder' tells it's 4,554,085 bankers (ie. the people of British Columbia) that there is no money left for stupid stuff?

Like....

You know.

Something really frivolous.

Like....

Oh, I dunno.

How about...

Schools?

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If Mr. Harper Was So 'Concerned' About Mr. Carson's Ask...

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...Why Did He Give Him The Money Anyway?

What the heck am I talking about?

Well, it turns out that after the PMO started lighting their collective hair on fire when Bruce Carson asked the Harper government for $25 million dollars for one of his shill factories while he was still working for said government, they gave him the money anyway.

Only for a different set of shillophants.

From Greg Watson's excellent CBC piece this morning:

.....The Harper government subsequently approved a $25-million grant for Carbon Management Canada, another research institute chaired by Carson.....

So forget about all this 'mistakes were made in pre-screening' codswallop, because clearly decisions were made to give Mr. Carson what he wanted after the PMO was already fully aware of the good Mr. Carson's inappropriate deeds while he was on the job.

OK?

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Who Really Slayed Vancouver's Casino Dragon?

AllTheCitizensThatFit

PublicHearingsVille

Before the deal went down, Frances Bula published an informative and insightful piece in the Globe yesterday morning that explained how the shifting of the political winds, including the 'fresh' new blasts of hot air blowing in from Victoria and/or the local Helijet pad, made it politically palatable for Vancouver City Council to give the thumbs down to the Casino Industrial Complex that was slated to go up next to Gordon Campbell's Big Tent that is replacing Bill Bennett's Marshmallow.

Which is all fine and good.

Especially given that Council voted unanimously to kill the thing last night.

But it would be a really, really big mistake for folks 'round Lotusland, regardless what they see, hear and read in the local proMedia over the next couple of newscycles, not to understand that the literally hundreds of delegations that represented thousands of people that spoke to council over a multiplicity of marathon public hearings, including sessions that took place over an entire weekend, also made a big, big difference.

Which is the way things are supposed to work.

Aren't they?

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I had my own beef with the Casino Industrial Complex, which mostly had to do with the way with the initial deal was done on the 'inside' of the pre-Crunchy provincial regime (see old posts at the tucked way at the top of the sidebar on the left).

A whole bunch of the delegations/folks, but certainly not all, that worked to stop this thing can be found here.

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The Photos Michael Sona Did Not Tweet-Up

TwitterDee,TwitterDuh

Operatives'RThemVille

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Quadruple Sow Cow Update (Feb 24, 2012): Does Ezra Levant know the good Mr. Sona?

Triple-Scoop-Post-RoboCall Revelation Shuffle Update (Feb 23, 2012): is.....here.

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Double Secret Probation Update (Apr 25, 2011): I have been contacted by a very nice person from the 'The Landmark Report' who wanted to set the record straight. She pointed out that the 'Tweet' referred to below came from the 'editor' not the 'proprietor' of that fine online publication. I have thus made that correction in an editted version of the post below. The representative of said fine online publication also took umbrage at my description of it being 'right-sided' and then went on to state that "it is a site that fosters debate and discussion from all sides of the spectrum" Now, that is a most interesting claim. I've had a look around there and I am not entirely convinced. Regardless, I have edited the post below to make it clear that it is my opinion that the site contains considerable right-sided content of a Canadian political nature. Finally, during my poking around at the very fine 'Landmark Report' it was most illuminating to find that, based on one of his own posts, it is clear that the good editor in question is very proud of his on air support for a political commentator that, in the opinion of some at least, always aspires to foster debate from 'all sides of the spectrum', Mr. Mark Steyn, while the latter was a guest on the program of he who, in the opinion of very, very few, is always inclusive of all political views, Mr. Rush Limbaugh.

Original Update: At bottom of post....

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Yesterday, Conservative Alliance/Coalition Party of Canada operative Mr. Michael Sona, who is currently helping run the campaign of coalition candidate Mr. Marty Burke in Guelph Ontario, retweeted a message from the editor of a very fine website called 'The Landmark Report' that leads back to this post.

The 'Landmark Report', in my opinion, publishes a considerable amount right-sided Canadian political reportage.

Regardless, the post in question, which has been wurlitzered 'round the intewebz by some very well meaning Conservative Coalition apologists, shows five photos that were apparently taken at the University of Guelph last Wednesday during a soon-to-be-hotly disputed 'special initiative' that had been designed to help students cast their ballots before they left campus after final exams.

In fact, this initiative was so special in terms of how it was designed to help get young students out to vote before they left the riding to go home for the summer prior to the regularly scheduled polling day on May 2nd that it was fully supported by none other than the President of Guelph University, who got all avatared-up to do so, as can be seen in the video below...

So....

Getting back to the tweets by the twitterers/operatives/journalists/conservatives concerned, please note that four of the five photos posted by 'The Landmark Report' were taken outside at the University of Guelph last Wednesday.

As in outside the 'special initiative' station where students were casting their ballots.

And, to give the avowed apologists their due, there do appear to be some young folks holding Liberal party literature in some of those photos who are, again, outside.

Please note, however, that the fifth Beatle.....errr.....Photo was taken inside, at what is clearly the special polling station itself.

And in that most (non) incriminating photo of all there appears to be absolutely nothing nefarious or untoward whatsoever going on.

Unless, of course, you count a very nice looking lady checking a student's ID to be nefarious in the extreme.

****

Now.

According to numerous press accounts, based on the statements of eyewitnesses, the dispute at the special polling station revolved, at least in part, around the good Mr. Sona himself who has also been acting as a ministerial staffer in Ottawa during the election cycle off-season.

Funny thing is, try as the Pro-Press might, they could not get Mr. Sona himself or the Conservative party brass that he works for to clearly state whether or not he, Mr. Sona, was or was not present at the site of the 'special initiative' during the dispute.

But here's the real thing....

It turns out that five very different pictures have been published on another very fine website, that of the Guelph Mercury.

And who is in every one of the pictures taken at the University of Guelph, inside, at the site of the special initiative last Wednesday?

Why none other than, the good Mr. Sona himself.

_______

And whaddy'a know.....It turns out that this is not the first time during this election campaign that a reporter at the Guelph Mercury, Mr. Greg Layson, has done the digging to determine that that the fine Conservative Operative currently working in the Guelph riding for Mr. Burke has been involved in disputes involving local university students attempting to exercise their rights as citizens of Canada.....Gosh.....Would'a thunk it?

And whosoever could have possibly thunk that some of those fine, upstanding and well meaning apologists could possibly have been in on the front end of the wurlitzering of the previous dispute...

Update, 12pm noon on Tuesday Apr 19th (~12hr after this post went up)....It's very interesting, but now, suddenly, the five photos of the good Mr. Sona at the 'special initiative', have been added without comment other than identification to the original 'Landmark Report' post....

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The Conservatives' New Translator: Mr. Michael Sona

TheHubrisOfTheTwitts

OneHundredAndFortyCharactersAtATimeVille

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Update: At Bottom of post.

Double Secret Probation Update: Was he or wasn't he there?...Photographs appear to confirm initial eyewitness reports regarding the presence of the good Mr. Sona at the University of Guelph's special ballot session last Wednesday....

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Mr. Michael Sona is the communications director for the campaign of Conservative Coalition candidate Marty Burke in Guelph Ontario.

He was also, according to a number of eyewitnesses, present during the controversial confrontation on the University of Guelph campus last week.

The following is a report on that confrontation in the Guelph Mercury published yesterday April 16, 2010:

....Several students and a Liberal scrutineer present at the polling station allege Marty Burke’s director of communication, Michael Sona, attempted Wednesday to grab a ballot box in an effort to stop voting at the U of G polling station.

Sona and the Burke campaign team directed all requests for media comment about this episode to the Conservative Party of Canada national campaign.

In a news release issued Friday morning, the party “vehemently denies that any of its workers or volunteers interfered” at the polling station.

“In particular, the Marty Burke campaign denies that any of its workers or volunteers touched a ballot box or ballot,” read the release. “The outlandish and unfounded claims being spread on the internet are the product of desperation, and are most regrettable.”

Students Brenna Anstett and Claire Whalen both said Sona tried to grab the ballot box. Anstett was “100 per cent” sure it was Sona after she identified him in a group photo provided by the Guelph Mercury.

Sona is a former University of Guelph student and former member of the Guelph Campus Conservatives. He also founded the group’s Facebook page.

Conservative party spokesperson Ryan Sparrow, the official responding to media queries about the case, wouldn’t say if Sona had been on campus in connection with the episode....

Now regardless who 'touched' what, or not, what is it, exactly, that the Conservative Operative Mr. Sona was translating as being 'wrong' in terms of the actions of E(lections) C(anada) or anyone else in Guelph?

Because, based on the following, from the Elections Canada press release on the matter at hand, it would appear that absolutely nothing was.

'Wrong' I mean.

"...While the initiative at the University of Guelph was not pre-authorized by the Chief Electoral Officer, the Canada Elections Act provides that electors may apply for and vote by special ballot. A special ballot coordinator, appointed by the local returning officer, oversaw the activities at the University of Guelph. All information at our disposal indicates that the votes were cast in a manner that respects the Canada Elections Act and are valid..."

So, given all that, is it possible that the Conservative Coalition of Canada and its Operatives were actually looking, not for something that was 'wrong', but rather something else?

Something like the following, also from Elections Canada:

"...In light of the focus on youth and student electoral participation at the 41st general election, and on efforts to increase voter interest and turnout among this group, a well-intentioned returning officer undertook a special initiative to create an opportunity for students at the University of Guelph to vote by special ballot.

Once Elections Canada officials were made aware of the local initiative in Guelph, the returning officer was instructed not to engage in any further activities of a similar nature. All returning officers have received this instruction..."

Does that part in bold, directly above, read like a successful voter suppression strategy to you?

Sheesh.

_______

Thanks to the anonymous commentor on a previous thread for pointing me towards the appropriate operative in this matter......

Update, Mon Apr 18th: Saskboy, with the help of Dr. Dawg, goes up the TwitterCon Food Chain.

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Something's Happenin' Here....

TheKidsReallyAreAllAlright

DemocracyVille

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Not-so-hopeful Update that helps further the Stephen Harper voter suppression strategy can be found at the bottom of the post

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C. and littler e. were off doing something fun with our friend M. last night that included the Whack-A-Doodle.

And Bigger E. was out rabble-rousing with, get this, her out of control 'Reach For The Top' team.

Which meant that I got to stay at the lab late on a Farrelly Brothers Friday night working on a paper which we think is pretty important because it will add another brick in the growing wall that we helped start that is this.

Anyway.

The upshot of all this is that when I finally left the building I couldn't help but notice that the atrium of the building was filled with kids really, really working.

Why?

Because it is final exam time and these kids take this stuff seriously.

Way more seriously than I ever did back in the days when Gradual School and Fed Gov - sponsored post-doctoral fellowships to go to crazy-ass biotech meccas like the Bay Area were little more than a gleam in my tiny post punk-addled mind.

****

However, even back in the old days when I was an undergraduate I did manage to grasp the truism that right-sided pols hated being forced to run elections when school was in session.

Because if they did it could turn the results of safe, well-heeled neighbourhoods upside down.

Kind of like what happened in West Pointiest Grey when our friend Mr. Reid's horse, Darlene Marzari, made it safe for the socialist hordes, not to mention the socially aware campus Lutherans, to storm the gates at the corner of Wesbrook and University Blvds way back in 1991.

Or some such thing.

****

So, I think we can be pretty certain that Mr. Stephen Harper and his minions likely heaved a heavy sigh of relief when they realized that the upcoming Federal Election would land in early May after most kids have left their college campuses and gone home for the summer.

Except......

The kids, aided by all their pyramid power-driven social media tools, got smart sometime in April, and started doing stuff like this:

About 300 University of Guelph students took part in a non-partisan rally during Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit to the city Monday.Sporting face paint and wearing red and white clothing to symbolize Canada, the students gathered on Branion Plaza around 3 p.m.

They then made the trek as a group across campus to the Delta Guelph Hotel and Conference Centre.They waited in the rain on the edge of the hotel’s property for Harper’s buses to arrive.

The students carried a banner reading: “Surprise. We Are Voting” and chanted, "We will vote!" as others banged drums and played the bagpipes.

And they did.

Vote that is.

Which of course drove Mr. Harpers minions crazy and has likely given them another reason to try and make Elections Canada go the way of the longform census:

OTTAWA (Apr 15, 2011) — Elections Canada says ballots cast at the University of Guelph are valid.

The elections watchdog has issued a statement slapping down a Conservative party effort to have the votes annulled.

Elections Canada agrees the special balloting at the university was not pre-authorized before the election campaign, as it should have been.

Nevertheless, the agency says the votes were "cast in a manner that respects the Canada Elections Act and are valid."

The Conservatives had complained about the process, alleging that its local campaign scrutineer had not been allowed into the room and that Liberal campaign material had been seen in the voting area.

However, Elections Canada says all information at its disposal indicates the proceedings were above board.

About 700 ballots were cast Wednesday as part of a "vote mob" organized by students to encourage young people to participate in the election.

But here's the real thing.

Student-organized 'Vote Mobs' are not just for Guelph anymore.

Because there are now 18 of them scheduled all across the country.

And I just realized that, despite my age, I can go take part in one that is happening next week that is only a two minute bike ride from the lab.

Gosh.

The kids really are alright.

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Update: Because I was working late in the lab last night I missed this. It would appear that the voter suppression strategy that was breech-birthed last time round, is back, assisted once again by a newly scared-straight and narrowest of narrow E-Canada.

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Screw The Big Lie, Because...

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....Steve's Got Truthiness On His Side.

How else can one explain how Mr. Harper could state, unequivocally and repeatedly, that there is no decrease in corporate taxes this year because the decrease was not announced this year.

Or some such codswallop.

Of course, the real tragedy of all this truthiness is the fact that the big media outlets in this country, including the CBC, have turned this into a "he said-he said" faux Battle Royale between Mr. Harper and Jack Layton based on last night's debate antics.

When the fourth estate is unwilling to call a demonstrable falsehood, especially one uttere with malice aforethought, what it really is we are in big, big trouble.

OK?

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Bashing Trudeau: Focus-Grouped Redmeat Garnish For The Base...

....Or Steve Harper's Real Message For All Canadians?

Here is Mr. Harper speaking yesterday:

..."I think it's probably a bit unfair to bash somebody in the grave. He's not here to defend himself. But as you know, Mr. Trudeau did have a different philosophy of government — a high-spending philosophy, centralizing philosophy — and that's not the philosophy of this government." ....

And here is a summary passage from an old CBC Bio that describes how the young Mr. Harper came to detest Mr. Trudeau and his policies quite some time ago:

...Trudeau was one of the young Stephen Harper's earliest political inspirations.

That admiration ended when Trudeau enraged the West by bringing in the National Energy Program in 1980. By then, Harper was living in Alberta and about to study economics at the University of Calgary....

So.

Is Mr. Harper's recent NEP-free trashing of Mr. Trudeau's legacy a carefully calibrated limited release of cyanide-laced 30-year old resentment served up fresh, as redmeat garnish for the base?

Or.....

Is it something that he and his have decided is now ready for prime time, nationwide?

****

Why does this stuff matter?

Well, if Mr. Harper has actually decided that the time has come to spread Mulroney era chocolate (coloured) sauce all over the legacy of Pierre Trudeau, it can only mean one thing.

Which is that he has come to the conclusion that the long game he invented so long ago deep within the eternal shiteshine of his Calgary Southwest mind has worked so well that Canadians have become 'conservative' enough to swallow this revisionist swill whole.

In other words, it is not just for the old Reformers or select residents of the 905 belt anymore.

Instead, it is for all of us.

OK?

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It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City

WhatTenBucks

CanBuyYouVille

And/or an uncommitted BCNDP member in the run-up to the next week's leadership vote.

How do I know this?

Because it is Sunday morning and John Horgan's wife just called me.

Or maybe it was his Mom.

I'm not really sure.

****

One thing I do know for sure is that a whole lot of folks that I have never met have been furiously calling me the last two weeks.

Even C., who loves talking on the phone, has had enough.

Maybe I just should have told them all from the start that I was committed to Nick Simons.

Oh.

Wait.....

_______

Final leadership debate is on Shaw at 2:00pm this afternoon.

Header quote refers to this.

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The Hubris Of The Twits

ShowingTheirStupid

OneHundredAndFortyCharactersAtATimeVille

Mr. Chad Pederson is the Executive Director of the BC Liberal Party.

The very same BC Liberal Party that has had huge problems telling the truth about their massive, billion dollar stadium roof-assisted, provincial deficit.

So.

Given all that, why would the good Mr. Pederson tweet the following:

Unless, of course the title of the post actually fits.

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Fight The Power...

....With Coloured Lights.

Background on the Republican Governor's attempts to censor a labor mural in the offices of the great State of Maine's Department of..... uhhhh......'Labor' can be found here.

The video above is a creative, clever and completely non-destructive way to effectively neutralize the delusional Governor's cretinous power with nothing more than a laptop, a projector and a light show.

The kids really are alright.

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RailGate Relapse

NothingFromNothingMeans

AbsolutelyNothingVille

Basi: ... you can take it and look at it, show it to them. They can ... y'know change some of the words around ... some buzz words they wanna see in there, right?

Clark: Yeah.

Basi: And these, these companies know how to ... get the fluff out of this shit and how to tailor it towards themselves, right?

Clark: Of course.

Basi: ... then we can make the changes, we'll show you the changes and then if those are okay, then we'll get it going.

Clark: Sounds great ... I'll get you a secure fax number and we can do it that way.

I am so relieved.

The government of the sister of the man who was involved in the conversation above has decided that it is time to really, really do something about RailGate.

This, according to Dean Wormer:

She (Christy Clark) hinted at the shift (to 'review' the $ 6 milion dollar RailGate Coffin Nail) during an interview with Bill Good on radio station CKNW Thursday morning. (Attorney-General Barry) Penner made it official in a series of media interviews in the afternoon.

The review will be conducted by an outsider with legal expertise, identity yet to determined, said Penner.

Hmmmmm....

An outsider with legal expertise?

Now.

Whom might that turn out to be?

Hey!

Aren't these guys BOTH outsiders now?

_______

*Of course, for this bunch really, really doing something about a thing so many of them have been implicated in actually means doing.... Well.....Absolutely nothing (except to serve up yet another media inoculation for the bamboozled).

Next up, if I can keep from succumbing to my cynicism completely, I will explain, once again, why Gary Mason really just may be the real reincarnation of Ron Obvious....And if I do so, I will also do my best to explain why Justine Hunter is now known, by this blogger at least, to be a 'friendly'. And whatever you do, stay away from Chichester Cathedral when reading anything generated by the BellGlobeCTVTSNCHUMRDSMUCHTEAMPickleBreath media organ grinders.

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Hey! What'sThat Sucking Sound?

InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers

EvilGoddessOfALesser(ness)ManVille

Never Mind. It's Just My Brain.

Picked littler e. up from Tap Dance the other day.

And because I was late I gave in.

So.

We stopped at the Temple of Green Goddess Lesserness next door to get a tall dark for me and a small hot chocolate-with-whipped-up-gunk-on-top for her.

And then, as we were walking back towards the VW(notso)Microbus, me with the couple of coins I got back from the tenner I used to have jingling in my pocket, her with a brand new milk moustache, she told me something that stopped me in my tracks.

Because.

It turns out our good friend K., who had taken littler e. to Tap that day because C. was home sick with a wicked flu/strep throat double-whammy, had stopped at an even schmancier place somewhere back in CremeVille to get them both Chai Lattes.

I tried my best not to react.

Really, I did.

But in the end I just couldn't help myself.

****

After we crossed Hastings at Slocan and I blurted out something about slippery slopes, littler e. gave me that 'Here we go again' eyebrow lift thing that both my kids (quite rightly) use at least 25 times a day.

Then, because littler e. is so good at shrugging off just about anything, we actually had some fun with math figuring out how much the average grad student in my lab spends at Starbucks annually.

The number we came up with, conservatively, was $2,500.

****

Now.

In my own defense, I actually make my own coffee, in my office, twice every weekday.

I used to have a pot on all the time.

Then, for a while, I went with a french press.

But I had to stop all that when I realized that my adenosine A2 receptors were so jammed with caffeine-crack-traffic that they were turning my autonomic nervous system CSheenCrazy by 3 o'clock every afternoon.

So these days I use the drip, because the volume and the caffeine dose are both relatively finite.

As is the expense.

But.

I would be lying to you if I did not explain that I often fall off the wagon on weekends.

The rationalization I use in my brain is that I want to go faster so that I can get out of the lab as soon as possible, while the sun is still up. That way I can head off to do stuff like this.

And yesterday morning, Saturday, I found myself standing in the Temple nearest the lab right behind a guy with one of those novella-length orders that leads to 10 minutes of sharpie-scribbling on the side of the cups by the kid behind the till.

All of which caused my eyes to wander.

Downward....

To the counter....

And what did I see?

Well...

An album...

By my new favourite.....

Band.

And that's when I realized....

The Bastards....

The ones running The Temple...

They've got me.

OK?

_____

To be very clear, this thing with Starbucks's music label is something that Bigger E. and I have 'discussed' (with her eyebrow raised) before....It started with the Dylan Gaslight thing and then went to a higher plane of forehead wrinkling when I saw Josh Ritter on that bloody counter...Clearly, I am mighty conflicted with my own bad buying behaviour...Her point was that good music is just that...And, those that are good have to make a living at it somehow....Damn...I hate it when my kids prove me wrong (but not really)...

By the way....Bigger E and me do pretty damned fine version of this back-to-back with this in the very same key, most often at Trout Lake North on Sunday afternoons.

Finally, there is a place up the street from our house (that is right across the street from a GreenTemple) that I go to every time I'm in that area for the Americanos and, even better, for the Fritters... And, here's the best part....I get a bill AND coins back from my tenner when I get one of each....

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