Anti-Rogue and Prorogue

First, let me start with some of the ugly news off of the sports pages. The first that's been on my mind is Plaxico Burress' marksmanship, where he managed to shoot himself in the foot (figuratively) and the leg (literally) at the same time. I recall John Calipari's line from this spring that nothing good happens at a nightclub at 1AM.

I support the right to arm bears, but not jackasses. As a MSU alumni, I'm not thrilled to have one of my fellow Spartans making a fool of himself.

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There is a certain crude phrase that I will abbreviate SS here. It's a phrase that has no good place in my speaking or writing vocabulary; but I recall hearing it on an R-rated comedy tape in my younger, less-edifying days. The only time I recall hearing the phrase on a broadcast was during an XLF game when a tight end wound up catching a deflected pass for a touchdown (one tip driller that normally lands into the arms of a safety for an interception) and the color man used it to describe the fluke reception.

NHL bad boy Sean Avery used SS to describe his exes now on the arms of players from other teams and got suspended for it. I don't follow the NHL that closely, especially when I'm outside of hockey territory and don't get to watch any games, but Mr. Avery has a reputation of being a bit of a lout and a trashy trash talker. Yes, that goes on during games, but don't have me (or kids that you have to explain the orgy-centric term to) listen to such crud on an interview.

How much of an suspension is required? Good question... it's so out of good taste that you're not quite sure where to start. John Rocker's ethnocentric diatribe about New Yorkers comes to mind and he got two weeks from MLB.

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I'm against these rogues, but I'm not sure I'm pro prorogue. That's our vocabulary word of the day-" to terminate a session of (as a British parliament) by royal prerogative." The Canadian parliament got sent home for Christmas by the Governor General in order to give the Conservative government time to recraft a budget and to give a month for the opposition who wanted to kick the plurality Conservative government out and replace it with a Liberal-NDP coalition to think it over and start fighting amongst themselves.

I'd normally be backing the Tories on this one, but I'm surprised that GG Jean backed up PM Harper on this one; it seems like too much of a political maneuver to stop a parliamentary majority from doing something rash. She's a person of the left and has a husband with PQ sympathies, so I'm surprised that she opted for a prorogue rather than letting the Odd Trio take power. The best I can see happening is that the opposition thinks twice and gets a Christmas break to rethink things; the Conservatives have 143 seats and 155 is a majority, so they only need to give 12 opposition members to get cold feet between now and January 26th.

Comments

[alan]

I feel the "odd coalition" is traitorous. I am glad the break will gill 12 members a chance to rethink their place in history. I f you want to get in, get elected in the first place.

[Bene D]

Alan: How is a coalition of the opposition traitorous?

What galls me is 70 thousand Canadians lost their jobs last month and our brawlers in Ottawa will collect $13,063.75 each over the prorogued period. And that is just HoC MP newbies.

Mark, she is the GG, with constitutional experts at her beck and call. Whatever she feels and whatever her political slant doesn't change the parameters of her role.

She spent an hour with Harper and an aide, an hour with experts - voters don't have to be happy with her decision, but it was her job to make it.

[Mark Byron]

Yes, she has a constitutional role and has to play by the rules. However, she did have the option to refuse to prorogue and give the opposition a chance to go forward right away and would have been well within her rights to do so.

However, giving the Conservatives a month and a half to come up with a more centrist budget package and talk one or more of the parties (or 12 rogue members of the opposition) out of the coalition. That seems to be good for Canada in the long term, which GG Jean should be given credit for.

[Bene Diction]

Agreed Mark, there are conventions with rules and exceptions to the conventions. She coloured inside the lines.