Although David Schreck is reticent about saying so, VanRamblings has no problem stating that the Gordon Campbell Liberals are liars (and ne’er-do-wells) who have mislead the public from the time the last election was called in April 2001, through to the present day. How the Liberals continue to get away with their almost constant stream of Orwellian Newspeak — or should that be “rhetorical transformations” — is beyond the ken of the administrator of VanRamblings to understand.
The estimable Mr. Schreck takes the Liberals to task in a series of items published on his Strategic Thoughts blog, on the subjects of budget “trickery” and welfare cuts. There’s also reference made on the site to a Mustel Group poll due out soon, which ought to gauge just how unpopular the Liberals have become going into the final year of their mandate.

As a follow-up to the article on Howard Dean’s withdrawal from the race to become the 2004 Democratic party nominee for President, published yesterday on VanRamblings, read this thorough analysis, in Mother Jones, of Dean’s impact on the campaign, and party politics in general.

Read news stories, each week, that you won’t read anywhere else, by surfing to The Tyee, British Columbia’s “feisty online” presence.
This week there’s one story (well, two, actually) of which to take note.
Chris Tenove’s penetrating interview with B.C. Attorney-General Geoff Plant on the provincial government’s rationale for the deep cuts to Legal-Aid that were introduced in the first year of the Liberal government’s mandate, and the follow-up human interest story on the troubling consequences of those cuts, constitute must reading for anyone concerned about the actions of the provincial government these past 32 months.
Take particular note of the comments published by readers, following both the text of Tenove’s interview, and the follow-up story on the impact of B.C’s Legal-Aid cuts.

Howard Dean ended his bid for the Democratic nomination today, saying, “I am no longer actively pursuing the presidency.”
The cyber story of the millennium, over the course of the past 10 months, through his blog, Dean has helped to transform the way politicians make contact with the public, raise money, and organize political campaigns. When other presidential contenders (and candidates for various political parties in Canada, and elsewhere) had never heard of blogs – prior to Dean’s emergence on the U.S. national political scene – every politician worth his salt nowadays has his own blog (blog links for all of the Democratic contenders, and in Canada the Conservative party hopefuls, may be found under Politics, clickable to your left).
At Howard Dean’s site, Dean For America, he writes, “Today my candidacy may come to an end—but our campaign for change is not over …

In the coming weeks, we will be launching a new initiative to continue the campaign you helped begin … There is much work still to be done … The truth is: change is tough. There is enormous institutional pressure in our country against change … The fight that we began can and must continue. Although my candidacy for president may end today, the most important goal remains defeating George W. Bush in November, and I hope that you will join me in doing everything we can to support the Democrats this fall. From the earliest days of our campaign, I have said that the power to change Washington rests not in my hands, but in yours. Always remember, you have the power to take our country back.”

Who Dean will endorse, and just what direction the Democratic campaign will take, in the coming weeks and months remains to be seen. Whatever the course of events, it is sure to be interesting.