Politicians desperately seeking relevance whining to the media - grow up and look around, folks!

I woke up this morning to a news report about New Democratic Party leader Howard Hampton crying to the media. He's unhappy that none of the issues he's trying to shed light upon during this Ontario provincial election are making it to the headlines.

Why nobody is paying attention, Mr. Hampton, is because you lead a marginal third party - a party and platform that suffers from having a lack of relevance when it comes to the vast majority of average Ontarians.

The latest (October 2, 2007) Harris-Decima poll results show that Hampton's NDP has the support of 14% of decided voters polled and predicts that, based on the polling results, an election would yield him 5 seats. 5 seats. Out of 107. If there is a reason for sparse coverage of the NDP in this election and its "ideas", there it is. How much of an impact can a party with that many seats have on the Legislature? About the same impact the party has on the headlines.

Deal with it.

Besides, Howie, how are we supposed to take you and your ranting about the media seriously when you were scheduled to appear on Steve Madely's show on CFRA in Ottawa this morning... and cancelled? No reason has been given for the sudden sprinting for the hills, but cancelling interviews won't help you get your "message" out there. And then you whine about not being able to make an impact with the media? Toronto aside, Ottawa's a pretty big market and bailing out on an interview while complaining about lack of media interest is a bit rich.

Think about it.

If that wasn't bad enough this morning, I sat down to breakfast and unfolded the Ottawa Citizen. The headline below the fold is "Quebec City accused of shedding 'nationalism'" - the separatists are whining about the Liberal government taking down the "Welcome to the National Capital" signs that I have ranted about in the past. A Quebec government has the intestinal fortitude to undo something that never should have been done in the first place? It's about time and congratulations!!!

Whine all day, separatists... if I were in power I'd dust off the good old treason laws and lock you all up for plotting and conspiring to break my country up. From today's Citizen:

Francine Lavoie, the head of the Quebec chapter of the council of sovereignty, is even more outraged and sees it as a setback for the separatist supporters.

"It looks as if they (Jean Charest's government) are trying to weaken the national nature of Quebec. And it's an enormous contradiction with the motion recognizing Quebec as a nation adopted by (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper's government," said Ms. Lavoie.

The council is a body that promotes sovereignty and includes members of the Parti Québécois, the Bloc Québécois and Québec Solidaire party, as well as others outside political circles.

Poor separatists. Their cause has been "set back". And when, exactly, did Quebec ever have a "national nature"? Last time I checked, it was one of ten provinces and three territories that make up the country known as Canada. The Bank of Montreal has figured it out, it seems, with that mural it's painting, depicting Quebec as just another province. Way to go BMO! I'll overlook the next service fee hike you announce as an "improvement to client services" and will take one for the country. And if we're going to start playing around with Stephen Harper's lame recognition of Quebec being a "nation", well, that further makes my point from several months ago - whatever gesture that was supposed to be got lost in the lack of detail... nobody knew what it meant then, nobody does now. "Nation" does not have to be the same thing as "country" but the separatists seem to equate the two. One cannot... but who really cares anyway - a growing minority of Quebeckers (and no, not Québécois!)

Why it has taken so long for a "federalist" Premier to take action, I'll never know. You're either with them or against them. Screw them! They want to break the country up, so they're no friends of mine, nor should they be coddled by governments of any level.

So let them snivel, Mr. Premier. Don't back down and stay true to the country you once aspired to lead. This action might be the very key that saves your political career. Separatism is dying - it will never go away, but it can be weakened to the point it can be marginalized... so don't break down and

Once again, to the marginalized NDPers and Péquistes who are unhappy with being marginalized, maybe it's time to look in the mirror. And for pete's sake - stop whining... that activity's reserved for little children!!