Didn't this happen last year?

[pnijjar]

UPDATE: Bob Jonkman kindly agreed to record upcoming all-candidates meetings on the Fair Vote Canada website: http://www.fairvote.ca/en/WaterlooRegion#All-Candidates_Debates . You can refer others to that page for update info; I will not be updating this page

Comments

[mynatt]

Um, are you okay? And how do these things happen to you?

Also: iron fist.

[pnijjar]

No, I'm not that okay. It would be different if I was arrested for
something cool like a die-in or a WTO protest. But I was just accused
of stealing mail out of people's mailboxes, and it is kind of
frightening to think of how easy it is to be framed and thrown into
the quagmire of the legal system.

The key lesson here is: shave your beard and don't look scruffy. And
drive, if at all possible. This is not the first time I have been
mistaken for a troublemaker on account of having a beard and a
backpack -- I get stopped at least once a year, I think. It is the
first time I have been arrested, though.

Unfortunately, my apprehension by the police last year was more
deserved: I had a meltdown in public, and everybody knows that you
are supposed to keep your tensions to yourself until you explode in
private and (preferably) harm yourself irrevocably.

As for Mr. Iron Fist: remind me why we are electing this guy with a
majority government?

[mynatt]

Hmm. Sounds unpleasant. Maybe you should consider shaving your beard and otherwise trying not to look like the sort of person generally assumed to steal mail and torture kittens or whatever it is people think you do. At least that would minimize run-ins with the law. (I say this because as you likely remember I used to go around looking weird too. In my case I never got arrested, just jumped in bars and chased down dark alleys. Finally I gave up and started wearing normal clothes and as depressing as that was it was worth it. Or at least it was for me.)

Don't blame me, I'm voting for Kodos.

[pnijjar]

I may end up having to put in the work to look respectable, but I am reluctant to do so. For one thing, it is probably good for me to get arrested once in a while, because it helps me understand what many of the people I work with go through regularly.

Secondly, I have already made some significant changes in my habits for respectability, and I have come to believe that I will never look orthodox without a huge amount of effort I am not at this point willing to give.

Thirdly, the changes that would be required have impacts on purely practical matters, like wearing a backpack. Do I ditch my unorthodox backpack to look respectable?

Fourthly, I like my beard, dammit. Among other things, I look too much like my father when I am clean shaven or close to it.

Debate info also on Karen Redman's Web page

[bob_jonkman]

In addition to the debates listed on Green Pary candidate Cathy McLellan's web page, Liberal candidate Karen Redman has also listed the debates for Kitchener-Centre: http://www.karenredman.com/

I have listed all the debate info at http://www.fairvote.ca/en/WaterlooRegion , let me know if you find others.

--Bob.

[cincinnatus_c_]

You know what you need to do to win a referendum on proportional representation? Hold the referendum the day after an election.

[pnijjar]

Man, I have so much voter's remorse now that I wish I wasn't alive.

Unfortunately the story is "The Greens spoiled the Liberals and don't
deserve to be a party" rather than considering that 900K voters
managed to count for exactly nothing in this election. They didn't
even vote in high enough numbers to earn a talking point.

[cincinnatus_c_]

I'm glad I wasn't voting in K-W for this one. I'm in Carolyn Bennett's riding now (home of election terrorism!), and the blitz of "10-percenters" we got from the Conservatives here just before the call almost convinced me they thought they could win here. As it turned out, Bennett won by a 2:1 margin.

I was a bit puzzled by Telegdi's emphasis on strategic voting reported by the Cord in its story on the WLU all-candidates meeting. Apparently he knew something hardly anyone else knew (including voteforenvironment.ca). I like that Braid was the only candidate who refused to say which of the others he'd vote for if he couldn't vote for himself. So many of these new Conservatives are such lovely people....