That's a wrap!

My crystal ball needs a tune-up! Craig Copeland is still Cold Lake's mayor, and Scott Cyr is the new MLA for my riding. True to my word, I didn't bother casting a ballot.

The recent NDP triumph over the naysayers leaves me feeling mostly indifferent. Regardless of who's elected to collect public dollars and engineer policies, Alberta will not be shielded from the orchestrated elimination of the weak and vulnerable by the global corporate oligarchy.

My overall levels of creativity are in the dumps lately (See? I can't even think-up a clever anecdotal substitute for 'in the dumps'), and I've decided to take a lengthy reprieve from having anything to do with music, be it: purposefully listening to it; writing it; performing it; arranging it; or recording it. Hopefully such a conscious abandonment will eventually reignite my creative drive. I couldn't even be bothered to spruce-up this garbage track I pissed-out the other day:


The whole process of producing music has not only left me mentally exhausted, but has ultimately proven to be entirely unrewarding. Given the accessibility of streaming music and the peripheral cadre of innovative vultures who try to profit from it, I'm beginning to think I picked the wrong pursuit in life. I just hope all eight people subscribed to my Soundcloud channel won't mind too much.

The same goes for this blog, but I felt a farewell post was the least I could do before taking a refreshing hiatus from the nagging compulsion to update it even sporadically for a while. Twitter has proven to be platform enough for me to practice the succinct presentation of ideas and arguments.

Have a great summer folks! See you on #ableg!

Anticipating The Next Alberta

In order for me to vote PC in the upcoming provincial election, I'll need to vote for Craig Copeland. If he doesn't win, he'll simply resume his mayoral duty to our fair city. After peering long into my crystal ball, there's no doubt in my mind he will be victorious.

Perhaps some resident will see this as a a loss for the region. Mr. Copeland did after all manage to negotiate some lucrative federal payola for the city of Cold Lake during his tenure so far. Still, I think most of his municipal supporters would be pleased to elevate him to MLA where he'll have even more leverage to finagle even better shit for this neck of the woods.

Copeland's only worrisome competition has manifested itself under the Wildrose party umbrella in the form of one Scott Cyr. In the last provincial election, Bonnyville-Cold Lake's enigmatic Wildrose candidate nearly tied incumbent Laurie Hawn, so there's no doubt that a serious (if fractured after the Smith fracas) "down with the PC dynasty" contingent does exist in the region. Who knows, maybe Mr. Cyr will throw his name in the hat for mayor should Copeland win?


There's probably also enough youthful optimism in these parts to see the NDP candidate, Ellen Ulfsten (of whom I can find nothing about on the Internet except that she's polling around 4%), at least carve herself a visible slice on the pie chart. There's probably some background info available somewhere online, but I can't muster the wherewithal to dig for it right now.

It's fun to speculate outcomes during crunch time, but in all honesty, I don't feel someone like myself should even be entitled to vote provincially: I don't own property; I don't pay provincial income tax; I'm not gainfully employed, and I don't have kids. Any fool like me without a real stake in things, should be relegated to the kids table in my opinion.

If I were a voting man, I'd vote for Craig simply because I feel he deserves a promotion. He's spent enough time cutting his teeth at the municipal level, and it's high time he spends some time under the dome. A vote for the person rather than the party.

For some thoughtful and humourous insight into the current affairs of this fair province, with a sprinkle of contextual history and whatnot, get yourself over to Dave Climenhaga's blog!

On Twitter, I proposed that we get together for a pizza party / movie marathon one of these days, and he didn't seem altogether disinclined. I have this notion that he'd prepare some notes and a slide projector in anticipation of  his fan club showing up at his stoop for an informal lesson in provincial history.

I'm picturing stacks of newspapers in corners, floor to ceiling books, and probably a fluffy house cat or two? Or maybe he's married and his better half would entertain nothing of the sort? Anyway, I'll leave the ball in his court. Being that I live a good four hour drive away, he needn't worry about any surprise visits which aren't really my style anymore anyhow.