Oh, do we have a busy news day.
Sad news up north as NDP boss Jack Layton lost his bout with cancer. That's going to create a huge vacuum in the NDP, as a lot of their huge inroads into Quebec was based on Layton's connection with Joe and Josee Quebecois. If things go well, the good side of socialist thought will allow a first-among-equals style of leadership to come forward, contrasting with a seemingly top-down Conservative government.
Bloodier but less sad is the end-game going down in Tripoli. The anti-government troops are working their way through the capital and seem to have Gaddafi's days numbered in decimal form. However, we seemed to have been close to this point before earlier in the civil war of sorts, and he wriggled out to keep a semblance of power until now.
To top it off, we have our first hurricane of the season in Irene; IIRC, this is the deepest we've been in the alphabet before hitting a 75+MPH hurricane. The good news for the moment is that it is veering north, saving both Hispaniola and south Florida a direct hit; the bad news is that it could do nasty things to South Carolina. Let's see how Nikki Haley handles a big crisis.
What would Maxine Waters' Hell look like, anyway? Texas without the chili and BBQ?
Jon Huntsman is running a great campaign... for a third party independent. Get Bloomberg as your VP and let him bankroll the whole shooting match. The country club Episcopalian wing of the GOP (yes, Huntsman is a Mormon, but he talks more mainline than anything) has money but no power, and all he can do is call the populists simpletons and "anti-science". At least he hasn't started to question their eternal destiny like the gentlewoman from Watts.
Interesting fact - Jack Layton is the first opposition leader to die in office. Canada has had 2 PM's die while serving.
Layton served as leader of the opposition for 16 weeks.
Posted by: Bene D | August 23, 2011 at 02:39 AM