Politics on the Rock(s)

So I'm going to do it.  I'm going to throw my hat into the blogosphere.  I'm going to be one of those people who blogs about the obvious.

Danny Williams has announced he's leaving his job as Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.

I'll throw out a link to the CBC story about his resignation - in the event you've been living under a rock since this afternoon, or don't check Twitter every 5 seconds.

OK, so obviously he isn't Jesus. He wasn't going to be Premier forever.  He no doubt has aspirations (political and otherwise) far beyond provincial politics.  But holy @#$%.  I didn't think he'd leave now.

And why would I care about the premier of another province deciding to leave? Especially someone with such strong views about the strengths and capabilities of his province (at the potential detriment of other provinces).  Why? Because of the politician he is.

I've always been interested in politics.  For those of you who've suffered through a wine-laden conversation with me about politics you know I like my opinions strong (like making-your-eyes-water-while-cutting-an-onion kind of strong).  But I've never really felt engaged by the political process.  The actual act of running to hold elected office.  I like policy.  It's a little cleaner - the mud slinging takes place on paper; it's nicer.

And then I moved to St. John's to take a Masters in Political Science, with a built-in term working in government.  And I got mud all over me.  I was inspired by a strong politician, from a province where the general consensus, of people who were not from there, was that with the end of cod nothing of value was coming out of good ole' NFLD.  But Danny made it his mission to change that from the inside out.  A highly educated individual who remembered where he was from, was fiercely proud of that, and believed that the reputation of his province was worth more than a failed fishery, transfer payments and suffering outports.

Policy? Stale bread.  Danny's style of politics? The meaty stew you could run that bread through.  And he was an Atlantic Canadian.  He wasn't concerned about the 7 seats his province held federally.  He confronted the PM, yelled ABC in Upper Canada and endeared himself to his people (and I would argue, the region).  He argued for a fair deal when it came to agreements on Hydro with "larger" national  players, and brought NL from have not to have.  Anyone else impressed??

Of course there are people who don't agree with Danny.  And yes, he's a bigger mud target than others.  But I would be a bet a beautiful bottle of Director's Cut Coppola Zinfandel that he's respected for his dedication and the promotion of his province.  

So yeah, I had a wonderful blog prepared about a recent announcement from my own province.  No DD  hasn't gone anywhere, but there was a fairly expensive economic, jobs-related release made this week.  And then I checked Twitter.  And thought I'd raise my glass and cheers to Danny (on the Rocks).

Pulling out the Cork

This feels like my Birthday!!Welcome all (I'm assuming people will like me) to my first blog posting!

I've been debating on posting a blog for quite a while now, and have been looking for an "excuse" to publish - when I had more time, when things got settled after I got married, when I found a new job, when I had babies (and boy oh boy do I have some stuff to blog on that) - and then I realized that there never would be a "good" time.

So I decided to launch myself into it.  I threw a Twitter Account together, whipped this blog together.  Thought about how wonderful it would be to eat food and then blog about it. And here we are.

I love politics.
I love love food.
I love wine.

And I love talking about them.  Really, really love talking about them.  In fact, it's a hobby.  The Husband, Chef C. and I have made that our thing.  I think it was a bottle of Ravenswood Zin that finally brought us together.  And I adore the political scene.  I find it witty.  Hilarious kind of witty.  The crazy kind of witty that the people we throw in those rooms often act like a playground full of three year olds.  And their mothers don't tell them to stop shouting, and that name calling is for weenies.  But I love it.  Often with a wedge of goat cheese and a pinot.  That kind of love.

So thanks for following my blog - I hope this politics-food/wine-and all things MS. Foodie blend will keep you interested. You may even laugh. After a bottle of pinot.