...on election...

Well Stephen Harper made it. He's the new Prime Minister of Canada, at least he will be made so in the next 10 days or so. I have mixed feelings about the results of the election. My personal opinion is he is the devil. But I'm not that pessimistic about what the new parliament will be like. For one thing, it's a very tight minority government. It will likely not last very long, maybe 2 years, especially if Harper tries to push through on some of his harder, more controversial stances. I think at that point the chance of a non-confidence vote will be high. But as long as he sticks to the more-centre issues like his GST tax cuts, this might actually work out okay. There's some great opposition still in place both from the Liberals and the NDP, experienced politicians who are going to be very influential in the face of mostly-rookie conservative members. Many of the strongest Liberal cabinet ministers held onto their seats (including my favorite, Bill Graham). The new government will be more accountable, more balanced, and more transparent than anything we have seen recently when the Liberal stronghold actually worked against Canadian democratic interests, I found - I mean, decisions were more likely to be made by Paul Martin and his cronies, and passed through party agreement. When the government is as precarious as Harper's is bound to be, he will have to make a strong effort to keep the confidence of the people around him.

Another thing that is really interesting is that the Liberals (or NDP, orBQ) held onto their seats in some very important cities; Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, whereas many of the more rural cities had stronger Tory support. That will be a balancing tension of its own.

So I don't know - it's a wait and see situation. See how far Stephen Harper will exercise his power, and in what direction. It is a very interesting time though now in Canada, worth watching.

Also, from his HFTS:

Virgo (Aug. 23 — Sept. 22)
It's time for a rest. By consciously electing to ignore life's supposedly pressing matters, you are neither running away nor are you copping out. It will bring a vital chance to see the big picture.

What are you TALKING about? Clearly it is both running away AND copping out.