So, the Kingston Whig Standard supposedly took a oujai board to Sir John A. MacDonald’s grave and asked for some election predictions.

 I can’t find it online, and didn’t actually read the article (yes, they printed this, it wasn’t just a drunken journalistic escapade), but a reporter told me today that good ol’ John A. predicted 4 Green ridings. They had their eyes closed, they didn’t touch it, and John. A. predicted 4 Green ridings.

I can tell you now, I think two of them will be Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound and Guelph. Central Nova has a shot, Vancouver Centre has a shot, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country has a shot. There could be a ton of flukes and a ton of students who aren’t counted in polls (because its still illegal to poll cell phones, thank God) who could give surprise results if they actually get themselves out to the polls.

But John A. says four… it’s probably more than DemocraticSpace will give us.

The streets are filthy, most students are nowhere to be seen, and all the other Kingston residents seem to be in a terrible mood.

 We just had a man (at least 55) walk past our campaign office while flipping us the bird.

 Now that’s constructive criticism. Maybe it was Don Rogers…

For a few days now, my Facebook update has been  ”Amanda doesn’t particularly want to come to the defense of Duceppe, but is Jason Kenney REALLY allowed to call anyone intolerant?” I haven’t changed it because, well, the irony still shocks me.

 The irony of Jason Kenney calling someone intolerant made me choke on the water I was drinking when I read it. Seriously. This is the same man who assures us that gays have the right to marry, as long as its to someone of the opposite sex. The man who Harper appointed Secretary of State for Multiculturalism just so he could giggle to himself when Jason opened his mouth and comments about “overheated Sikhs” came out. (Why Harper still lets this guy speak and has gagged everyone elese is beyond me.)

 But anywho, that’s enough Kenney bashing for the day. I’m sure there’s already enough of that out there. The point is, that this was up on my Facebook.

 One of those stupid message things just popped up from someone that I attended Forum for Young Canadians with over two years ago (let’s see if he explores the Blogosphere). 

bloc is searching for a story

its an obvious conservative victory

I know this guy is hardcore big-C Conservative, because, well he is, and his dad is (was?) a Conservative MP.  My first thought was, “Holy insecurity, you can’t handle a Facebook bash of arguably your most pathetic Cabinet Minister? Let it go!” But I left that, and was about to write back something a little Bloc bashing, something I’m sure we had some common ground on, “lol” at and move on with our politiked little lives.  And then he wrote this. 

and unfortunately the green party will be left with no seats…

Don’t troll me. We haven’t spoken since Forum and you troll me? You actually are that insecure?

 Whether you think the Greens will win seats or not, the fact is we’re a presence in this campaign and the possibility of us is scaring people. So your trolling doesn’t bother me, because I know that something we’ve done has triggered fear in you. Crazy Greens with their platform that you didn’t bother to read but will assume is full of socialist lies are shaking up the system. They have a voice and it hurts my ears!

Your attacks inspire us. A misquote of Elizabeth May is a mention of Elizabeth May. It’s finally great just to have some attention.

 PS: Need more Jason Kenney bashing? Not quite sure why you should always laugh at the name, “Jason Kenney”?
How about a Maclean’s liveblog? Once you’re there, search for Andrew Coyne’s videoblog on the same press conference. Or how about Rick Mercer’s story of the creation of JasonKenney.org?
They’re both good times.

It shocks me how many people don’t realize that advance polls exist. I’ve been trying to promote Youth Voter Day (October 3rd) to my friends and fellow students. The Young Greens of Canada launched and invited all of the other parties to participate in Youth Voter Day as an initiative to try and encourage early student voting.
Let’s face it, October 14th is a mighty inconvenient day to vote for anyone. Add a few midterms worth of studying to that mix, and even I might consider not voting if there were no other option available.

But what else is Elections Canada to do? They sent out information about voting, registering, all the polls, special ballot, and voter ID at the polls. They have representatives on campus here at Queen’s. They can only give you so much information before it just becomes a waste of resources. Admittedly, they’re kind of busy and caught off guard right now.

In other news, Kingston and the Islands campaigns are facing some dilemmas for the weekend (it’s the infamous homecoming weekend at Queen’s). We’re not delivering signs that were ordered this week to any areas around the student village until Monday at the earliest, and I’m encouraging everyone I know to take their sign in for the weekend. All we need are “Eric Walton” signs scattered across the city along with a new layer of broken glass.

For now. And that’s great, I feel for them and I don’t think he should be deported.

But I would really appreciate it if the government would stop trying to send my talented and hardworking friends from Rwanda and Iraq back where they came from as well.

 Earlier today, another blogger commented that none of the leaders will address immigration out of fear of public backlash.

Yeah… it’s time everyone got over that fear. This immigration system is something we need to deal with now.

While pretty much the entire country can agree that there needs to be some amendments, I can’t say Harper’s direction is the one we should take. I understand where he’s coming from, and the emotions that drive these amendments, but I simply cannot agree with them.

I believe in rehabilitative justice. Not the kind of rehabilitative justice that allows Karla Homolka to walk out of prison with a free university education, but the kind that would prepare prisoners for release and put them on a program to literally pay back their debt to society by working off some or all of the money spent on their imprisonment.

So, I disagree with Harper’s view that harsher penalities will deter crime. This is often used to advocate the death sentence, and as we can see with the United States, it simply doesn’t work that way. Violent criminals either act on compulsion, so they don’t think about the sentences, or they act with deliberation to avoid being caught, in which case they can obviously rationalize their need to be violent is greater than the risk of whatever punishment could be brought upon them.

But this is not new. I’ve always disagreed with views like this and I expected it to come up this election. Harsher penalties for violent crimes is always a hot button election issue. What I didn’t expect was amending the part of the YCJA that protects the identities of minor offenders.

I’m sorry, but if you are tried as a minor and sentenced as a minor, shouldn’t you be protected as a minor? If the crime is serious enough that you are tried as an adult and found guilty, then treat them like an adult and expose their name. But we can’t give judges the right to expose minors who are tried and sentenced as minors, no matter what the crime, especially for offenders as young as 14.

“In this new legislation, the main purpose will be not only to rehabilitate young offenders, but also to protect society, and the primary goal of sentencing will be to deter others from violating the law,” Harper said at an event.

Protecting the name and record of young offenders is a part of rehabilitation. It allows those who are successfully rehabilitated (and, like everything else, it is easiest to do this at a young age) to move on with their lives.  This proposal appears to include no other amendments that actually concern rehabilitation of young offenders.  I find that incredibly concerning.