Aachen is more fun than Harper

I was quite eager to go to Nina’s this weekend. When mom visited a month ago and we went to Germany, they were in the midst of setting up the Aachen Christmas market. Now it is in full effect and I was eager to go for my second year in a row.

In the centre of the old part of town is the old city hall, originally the location (and remaining foundations) of Charlemagne’s palace. Surrounding the large building are squares, large cobble-stoned open spaces on the way to the infamous cathedral. But at this time of the year they are consumed by the hundred-or-so stalls and the thousands upon thousands of people who hoard to this festive event.

We were in Aachen on Saturday evening and passed through the market to one of the many drink stands selling various spiced wines, warm punches and hot chocolate with amaretto. We then returned on Sunday to do some shopping as I needed some winter shoes for New Years in Austria.

I noticed an immense difference between the North American attitude toward Christmas and the atmosphere in Aachen; here is seems more festive. Apart from the shopping malls full, the constant advertisements and the buy-buy-buy mentality, there seems to be little festivities in Vancouver. Sure, there is the little train in Stanley Park going through the beautifully lit forest, the Santa parade, the Hyatt gingerbread houses and the Sutton Place Christmas trees. But for the most part, it seems the focus is on the consumerism.

They certainly have that here as well, but they also have a lot of food and drink stands (even set up on the small streets of Herzogenrath) where people get together for some laughs, music and spiced wine.

Tour busses come from England each weekend with Brits wanting to experience the German Christmas markets where you can buy hand-made crafts. At least half of them seemed to be selling something they crafted themselves opposed to something that came from a factory.

Nina and her father both told me they felt the spirit of Christmas was waning toward the commercialism, but I assured them it still had a ways to go.

OK, that’s basically it for the highlights of my weekend. I have to go on a bit of a rant now about the Canadian political situation. I received a great Email from mom with her opinion this morning and I was on the verge of responding when it occurred to me… why send it only to her when I can share it with everyone!

With the government being prorogued, it gives some time for everyone to settle down a bit and, hopefully, for calmer heads to prevail. However I am doubtful this will be the case as the instigator is still the PM, has yet to admit he screwed up and is spreading mistruths as fast as his tongue can wag.

Last week Harper addressed the nation. In that speech he said:

“The Opposition does not have the democratic right to impose a coalition with the separatists they promised voters would never happen.”

Did I miss something? The constitution clearly states that the opposition DOES have the right to form a coalition. And if he is taking issue with Dion going back on his word, maybe Harper forgot that the election he called after only 2 years went against his very own bill C-16 (fixed-term elections).

In the Economic Update they fudged the numbers on next year’s budget. I don’t know, is there a difference between a deliberate exaggeration and a lie?

Harper also plotted with the Bloc for support when he was in opposition, which is dangerously close to the concept of a coalition. These days he just records conversations and keeps close tabs on his audience to ensure he says separatist in English and sovereigntists in French. Wouldn’t want to get those mixed up.

Harper’s speech was a blatant plea to keep his job with no regard for what is in the best interest of Canada. The same day the speech aired, smear advertisements on CKNW started to air propagating the misinformation that is consuming an alarming number of Canadians (click here to hear the ad).

I have heard multiple people on the call-in shows accuse the coalition of staging a coup, of being undemocratic and treasonous, of wrongdoing and of breaking the rules. One caller went as far as to call them communists and compared them to the Nazis! The problem is, NONE of that is true. This is what scares me. I have heard so many of these irate callers supporting Harper with this misinformation. The host of the show points out their incorrect information, yet the callers continue to rant and spout unconditional support, regardless that it is based on lies and emotion, not fact and reason.

The biggest problem I have with the coalition is not in how they would govern, it’s what it will do to the reputations of the individual parties. And on the same note, I am afraid of the outcome if we did spend another (unnecessary) $300 million on the 3rd election in 4 years. Based on the reaction of the public, I fear Harper might win a majority! And if that is the will of the country, I should respect it I suppose. But, I can’t.

We recently got a first-hand view of how Harper bullied the opposition parties. Luckily for us, they were able to stand together to scare down the over-inflated antagonizer. Imagine how he would govern if he was in a majority? It’s frightening.

Harper and his government spent almost $1 million on consultants (on a range of topics) in their first 2 years in office. It seems a shame they didn't see the need to hire one to bounce ideas off 2 weeks ago. It would be have been the best money they've spent!

I have heard Harper referred to as a shrewd politician. Yet he couldn’t foresee the backlash against his removal of the $1.75 subsidy, union’s right to strike and lack of economic subsidy. For this reason alone, he isn’t fit to be representing Canada as a MP, let alone the PM. As far as I’m concerned, Harper has sunk into a group of politicians populated with the likes of Svend Robinson and Lorne Mayencourt in my humble view.