WAP Leadership race down to two...

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Azure;2034076.

She's pro-choice and pro-universal health care. Go figure. Some right wing loon.

I'm not crazy about her ties to the Fraser Institute.

[Shazam]

Libertarians. The most naive people on earth, next to newborns.

[The Goon]

So who is going to help me activate my new Blackberry?

I caught the news report on the debate last night, and I thought Danielle Smith sure was cute. So I looked her up and I didn't realize she was the same lady I crushed on back when she hosted Global Sunday.

My research also revealed that she's nine days older than me.

Okay, I have nothing of substance to offer this thread. Still, I never heard of this party before this week, so at least they're on my radar now.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by EddyBeers

I guess you missed the dripping sarcasm in my post (unless you actually think that I believe that Chandler is like drinking from a fire hose and that he has talent on loan from god). I actually think Smith would be the best option for the Liberals, she could present vote split opportunities that would open a number of seats to them.

You mean like the way they split the seats in the recent by election?

Liberals gained 1% of the vote, and the WAP took the rest.

Good luck with changing that in the rest of the province. We have known for the past 20 years that Albertan people are not going to vote for Liberal. Especially if an arrogant idiot like Swan is in charge.

They had a better chance with Taft.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by troutman

I'm not crazy about her ties to the Fraser Institute.

She did policy research for a year at the Fraser Institute.

Not exactly something that is screaming whatever you have a problem with.

I'm not sure exactly what that is. This isn't like the US, where Obama could be a closet Muslim, or McCain a closet gay.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by troutman

I'm not crazy about her ties to the Fraser Institute.

Awful abbreviation BTW. Wireless access protocol pretty much owns it and it sounds like an Internet meme for masturbating.

The WAP is like a hot girl with really messed up teeth. You convince yourself to just do it but then there's the teeth again.

The separation and Jesus talk needs to stop and some basic ideologies need to be formed. Are they libertarian fiscal conservatives or are they right wing bible thumpers?

If your libertarian, come out and say it. They could go a long way if they position themselves as a socially liberal, fiscally conservative party but maybe they are worried about alienating the Church set.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Libertarians. The most naive people on earth, next to newborns.

How can I argue with that?

Some of us are only Libertarian on a social sense. God forbid we actually believe in NOT pushing our personal views onto other people.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Azure

How can I argue with that?

Some of us are only Libertarian on a social sense. God forbid we actually believe in NOT pushing our personal views onto other people.

In the old days, we'd call that "minding our own business".

Seeing as how even the act of becoming a democratically elected politician is intrinsically a violation of libertarianism, how are matters of social policy ever resolved?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Shazam

In the old days, we'd call that "minding our own business".

Seeing as how even the act of becoming a democratically elected politician is intrinsically a violation of libertarianism, how are matters of social policy ever resolved?

So, you're saying Libertarian's shouldn't vote because is a violation of what we believe? Really?

Believing in something, for example I'm pro-life, doesn't mean that I can force that belief on other people. So, in the real world I would be pro-choice. Because I don't believe in forcing other people to believe what I believe. Or to make the same choice I would make.

Being a Libertarian is simply an ideal. Nobody ever said that you could implement strict Libertarian policies in the real world. Smith of all the people in the world seems to realize that as well. But you can try to work with that ideal as much as possible.

Its interesting to note how many people on here have said that if the Liberals would rebrand their party to be more socially moderate and fiscally conservative they would vote for them. Isn't that exactly what Smith is trying to offer?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Awful abbreviation BTW. Wireless access protocol pretty much owns it and it sounds like an Internet meme for masturbating.

The WAP is like a hot girl with really messed up teeth. You convince yourself to just do it but then there's the teeth again.

The separation and Jesus talk needs to stop and some basic ideologies need to be formed. Are they libertarian fiscal conservatives or are they right wing bible thumpers?

If your libertarian, come out and say it. They could go a long way if they position themselves as a socially liberal, fiscally conservative party but maybe they are worried about alienating the Church set.

That is what is being voted on right now.

Smith represents the libertarian fiscally conservative/socially moderate future of the party.

Dryholm represents hard right wing views that you express concerns over.

Willerton and Dryholm's comments were interesting to me, because none of their views on separation, gay marriage or abortion received a great deal of approval from the crowd. Of the three, Dryholm's comments on defunding abortions received the most support, but still muffled. And all he argued was that abortion was only a choice, and would be a "one time cost of $500" for most people, and therefore the money spent funding them could be better directed to more urgent medical needs.

Truth is, based on last night, I don't think the church set has much control over the party at all.

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by Azure

How can I argue with that?

Some of us are only Libertarian on a social sense. God forbid we actually believe in NOT pushing our personal views onto other people.

Sorry .... this isn't a software glitch is it? This is Azure stating that as a Libertarian he doesn't push his personal views on other people? If that's the case, what on earth did he find to post about >18,000 times?

Thanks for the chuckle Azure.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

Sorry .... this isn't a software glitch is it? This is Azure stating that as a Libertarian he doesn't push his personal views on other people? If that's the case, what on earth did he find to post about >18,000 times?

Thanks for the chuckle Azure.

Push or share? Nothing wrong with debate.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

Sorry .... this isn't a software glitch is it? This is Azure stating that as a Libertarian he doesn't push his personal views on other people? If that's the case, what on earth did he find to post about >18,000 times?

Thanks for the chuckle Azure.

Is there even such a thing as 'pushing' personal views onto someone on a message board?

We all post here to share opinions.

[Slava]

I just have to ask how in the world Smith will repair healthcare and education and at the same cut taxes and reduce the very system delivering those services at the same time?

Looks good on paper (as does Smith for the record), but I have yet to see anything other than rhetoric. Just because you say that is the goal and over-arching theme doesn't mean that your plan will actually work here. Before you bother with the obvious "she/we will cut away the fat and streamline the system" that is just rhetoric. As a voter and user of these systems I want to know where the cuts will be and what kind of impact these will have on the delivery of what I believe to be fundamental systems in our society.

[MolsonInBothHands]

Originally Posted by The Goon

So who is going to help me activate my new Blackberry?

I caught the news report on the debate last night, and I thought Danielle Smith sure was cute. So I looked her up and I didn't realize she was the same lady I crushed on back when she hosted Global Sunday.

My research also revealed that she's nine days older than me.

Okay, I have nothing of substance to offer this thread. Still, I never heard of this party before this week, so at least they're on my radar now.

I remember she did a report on Turks and Caicos when they proposed joining Canada. I thought she was pretty cute too.

[corporatejay]

If Danielle Smith is truly a social libertarian and a fiscal conservative she is definitely the candidate for me.

Can someone link me to anything she's written on social issues?

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Slava

I just have to ask how in the world Smith will repair healthcare and education and at the same cut taxes and reduce the very system delivering those services at the same time?

Looks good on paper (as does Smith for the record), but I have yet to see anything other than rhetoric. Just because you say that is the goal and over-arching theme doesn't mean that your plan will actually work here. Before you bother with the obvious "she/we will cut away the fat and streamline the system" that is just rhetoric. As a voter and user of these systems I want to know where the cuts will be and what kind of impact these will have on the delivery of what I believe to be fundamental systems in our society.

Well for one, and I don't even know why I'm posting this for you since you don't give a crap about the WRA anyway.

Instead of paying hospitals a set annual budget, we should be paying them according to what they do for patients. In other developed social democracies this has been shown to radically reduce administration cost, and maximize use of medical staff and facilities, reducing waiting times, improving service and saving money. One of Danielle’s first acts as party leader will be to appoint a qualified task force to identify successful models from elsewhere that will work in Alberta. The PCs have allowed Alberta health care to fall unacceptably far behind the rest of the world.

Major improvements can be made without getting into protracted and useless arguments with Ottawa over the five principles of the Canada Health Act, universality, accessibility, portability, comprehensiveness, and public administration. The major changes we need are straightforward and have been proven to work in European nations like Sweden or France. Alberta has overlooked a wealth of successful improvements in other countries.

Just from her website.

She also wrote papers on these topics if you actually bother to go look.

[mariners_fever]

Originally Posted by Slava

I just have to ask how in the world Smith will repair healthcare and education and at the same cut taxes and reduce the very system delivering those services at the same time?

As a student of public policy, it's easy. There are much more efficient ways to deliver better healthcare for less, see Australia and Austria. A great example of inefficiently spending plenty of money on health while technically not even supplying it would be the USA. The government doesn't even officially provide universality, yet it spends more per capita on health than any other western democratic state?

So is it possible to get better for less? Absolutely.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Slava

I just have to ask how in the world Smith will repair healthcare and education and at the same cut taxes and reduce the very system delivering those services at the same time?

All three candidates took aim at the size of the bureaucracy, commenting that half the costs right now are administrative. All pointed to the top eight rated countries in the world for health care, and argued that all use a mixture of public and private systems that offer better service to more people at lower costs. They also all proposed a direct funding system where medical facilities get paid per activity rather than just getting a block of money with no accountability around how they earn it.

[Slava]

Azure....again that is just rhetoric though. Those are broad-based and general sweeping comments not actual concrete solutions to anything. They are also old ideas...the Liberals and NDP have made similar recommendations about healthcare systems through Europe and even a guy who I'm sure you respect and admire...Michael Moore. Say it ain't so though Azure...you aren't actually advocating something that he put forward are you!!?