1. Corruption is always better than malice. I am wary of the rule of the righteous, especially when in their heart of hearts they wish to tear up what the corrupt merely allow to decay. I am particular wary of self-declared Trojan horses.

2. Fortunately, there is hope. This election, of all elections, contains little excuse to engage in strategic voting.

3. We really do need a minority government. 'nuff said.

4. Sovereigntists are not so bad. They negate their own purpose by being in the House of Commons. In particular, they should not be excluded ipso facto from participation in a minority government, including in a supporting role. This only makes them stronger. Including them makes them weaker. They're separatists, duh.

5. Alberta deserves exactly what it gets. It is, after all, the font of almost every reactionary and regressive signficant political movement in the country for a while. There's a reason why it is a target of the hypocrite Martin's attacks. Martin's foolish original strategy of dealing with Western Alienation ruined the Liberal's winning formula. He should have run on his record---and never mentioned Western Alienation except to deny it or denigrate it au Chrétien.

Not because he is much better. I agree that he is hypocrite, and I would not vote Liberal even in a close riding, particularly not in this election. But nevertheless, he is right. Western Alienation is as hypocritical a phenomenon as the Liberal Party's attacks on Alberta. A one-party province with a corrupt media and anemic political culture, criticizing Ottawa? Really, now. It's just a vehicle. A Trojan Horse. (The NDP doesn't run on this because it is bad strategy for a smaller party to alienate any vote at all.)

6. You can't hire people to do constituent work. Election is their incentive to do that sort of stuff. Otherwise, I pointed out a number of weaknesses in Chris' argument in my introduction to Chris and crack. They still stand. (He suggests that his position is the one that this blog has generally taken on representation. Well, I am the dissenter to his take on it.)

7. I love cooking Thai food.