Conservatives Down to less Than 33% in the Polls. Better Whip Those Cheques Out Faster Stevie

There's just so much to blog about today. It's so exciting. From memos with a paper trail right to Stevie, showing how his party stole over 200 million for a partisan ad campaign, to the "integrity" officer on the lam, being captured in Florida.

Now the really good news. The people are listening and Stevie has plunked again. 32.4% Guess all his attack ads are paying off, huh? I think he's just overdone it.

Caught lying and dipping his hands in the cookie jar in the same week. Let's see him spin his way out of this one.

The Bev Oda affair and voter unease over the possibility of a Harper majority government has awakened a sleeping electorate that’s finally paying attention to federal politics, pollster Frank Graves says.

His latest survey shows big swings in voter intention as the 12.5-point lead Stephen Harper’s Conservatives enjoyed over Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals two weeks ago has evaporated to a mere five points – 32.4 per cent of Canadians support the Tories compared to 27.3 per cent for the Grits. The NDP has 14.8 per cent support, the Bloc is at 10.5 per cent and the Green Party garners 11.9 per cent.

Has the progressive revolution finally hit Canada? I'm pulling out my bell bottoms and platform shoes just in case. I'm not missing this for anything.

The Progressive Revolution Continues. Now in Pennsylvania

I think the Left has finally found their voice. From Egypt to Wisconsin to Pennsylvania, the progressives are fighting back. Noam Chomsky says: Only a Massive Uprising Will Change Our Politics. He's right and I think it's coming.

The UK Guardian has an excellent column by Ewen MacAskill : US left finds it voice over Wisconsin attack on union rights. State capitol building under occupation as tens of thousands turn out for biggest demonstrations since the Vietnam war.

Proudly displayed in a corner window of the Barriques coffee shop, a block from Wisconsin's state capitol building, is a poster advocating Workers of the World Unite – not the kind of sign normally seen in shops in America.

But the last fortnight has been unusual. Tens of thousands have been turning out in this normally quiet midwest city for the biggest demonstrations in the US since the Vietnam war, and the state capitol building is under occupation day and night. After a year dominated by the Tea Party, the American left has found its voice, and a cause, united against a bill backed by the state's Republican governor, Scott Walker, to neuter public sector unions.

This has been so long coming. There is talk of a rally on Parliament Hill, similar to the anti-prorogation rallies of a year ago. I'll keep you updated if I hear more.

Preston Manning is weighing in, poor dear, pretending to understand grassroots movements. The Reformers were corporate sponsored AstroTurfers, much like the U.S. Tea Party. They only posed as populist. Even his Manning Centre was started with a ten million dollar "anonymous" corporate donation. Who is he trying to kid?

But a change is 'gonna come. I can feel it in my bones.

A Blast From the Past is the Shot of Adrenaline I Needed Today

I was reading an article about the new (old) governor of California, and his plans for the future. For all of us boomers out there, we remember Jerry Brown as being cool. He ran for the senate before and was a presidential hopeful in three campaigns, though he never quite got there.

But he was a progressive with endorsements from actors and singers and everyone we looked up to at the time. He was one of us. And it's so refreshing to have a progressive back in California, because that state has been drifting back to the stone age.

Brown has taken the unprecedented step of promising NOT TO LOWER TAXES for five years. Can you imagine? Since Reagan, just the thought of not lowering taxes has been blasphemy for politicians.

I'm still ironing out the wrinkles in my campaign of US's, but I'm encouraged by men like Brown.

Think about it Boomers. Our chance for a comeback.

We were born into a generation where women and gays and minorities had to fight for their place at the table. But we raised a generation, where so many of those things were taken for granted.

But that is no longer the case. We have a neoconservative government following through on their promises to put women back in their kitchen, gays back in the closet, and immigrants back where they came from.

Is this the country we want to leave to our children and grandchildren? One defined by guns, military hardware and prisons? The only topics being discussed it seems, while the very fabric of Canadian identity is being unravelled.

And we're even about to get our own Fox News.

We may be reaching our ... ahem ... golden years, but we can't just sit on our duffs. We need to talk to everyone about moving this country back to it's centre. It doesn't have to be a grand gesture. It can just be chatting with your grandkids and their university friends. Neighbours, co-workers. Rationally and calmly, reminding them that this country is too good to give up and our democracy too important to lose.

Canada has always been a progressive country but we're losing our way.

In Alberta a group called the Democratic Renewal Project is working to bring their province back on track. The home of the Famous Five.

The DRP -- a grassroots organization of Albertans from all parties devoted to replacing the present government with a progressive alternative -- recently hired Leger Marketing to do a public-opinion poll on Albertans' provincial party preferences. Leger found some surprising results. In a telephone survey of 891 eligible voter respondents, Albertans broke out as follows: PC 26 per cent, undecided 25 per cent, Liberal 14 per cent, Wildrose 13 per cent, New Democrats six per cent, Green party four per cent and Alberta Party one per cent. ( "Other," "Will Not Vote" and "Refuse to Answer" made up the rest.) Among decided, support levels were: PC 39 per cent, Liberals 21 per cent, Wildrose 20 per cent, NDP 10 per cent, Greens seven per cent and Alberta Party two per cent.

We should be encouraged by that. We can't judge all Albertans by the likes of Jason Kenney and Rob Anders. Obviously the citizens do not share the neoconservative viewpoint.

I thought the Tea Party would be the wake up call that progressives needed to rise to action, but it turned out be a shooting at a political rally. A place where people should feel safe. Six people died, including a nine year old girl, and fourteen were injured.

And while the argument continues, about whether or not it was politically motivated, or just the actions of a crazy person, the real story is that so many people immediately looked to the visceral politics of the last two decades or so. Fox News, the Republicans, the Tea Party, all successful by promoting hatred and fear.

We need to change that. And the good news is that we can.

Seek out progressive journalists, columnists and media. Close your ears to the ugly. Promote what's good about this country, that doesn't involve war, guns or law and order. There are many, many things.

I refer to my initiative as the Army of US's and I thought about changing the 'Army' in the title, now more sensitive to negative things. But for now I'm going to keep it, because we need to mobilize. Advocacy groups, unions, intellectuals. Everyone marginalized by this destructive force.

But we are the army of nice. We will point out what we're fighting against but emphasize what we're fighting for.

We can do it. I feel it. Thank you Jerry Brown.