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First the bully hits you, then he yells to get everybody's attention so you can't hit him back:
It looks like the worst suspicions may be gr(o)vely true...

Eye on Politics & Law Lords: Why E(l)ections are a Lousy Way to Run a Country
The main result of the [Canadian] federal election has been to illustrate again the illusion of democracy. Paul Martin’s party obtained 37 per cent of the 60 per cent of registered voters; that is, at most, 22 per cent of the electorate. And he says, I do believe we have a mandate from the people to act on the issues that we set out and we obviously intend to fulfil that mandate.
Perhaps something like the Venetian custom described by economist Mancur Olson should be implemented here: In Venice, after a doge who attempted to make himself autocrat was beheaded for his offense, subsequent doges were followed in official processions by a sword-bearing symbolic executioner as a reminder of the punishment intended for any leader who attempted to assume dictatorial power.
• Hung Parliament & Beyond [ Lauding the larrikin - Hawke-style ; If we can't get a new PM, we can at least rediscover our values]
• · Why is voting system so corrupt? It's a rhetorical question. Even Slate doesn't know why. Instead the article explains the problems, and there are many [Unpolitical Animal, Louis Menand, on how political science understands voters]
• · · Jonathan Rauch introduces the Senate candidate of the future ; [Dragged into the digital age Parliamentary representation in the Internet age]
• · · · Divorce - the word that dare not speak its name in Liberal Party literature; [For better or worse, election years lure many members of the ivory tower into the real world]
• · · · · Wife of Peter Ryan Swearing row: Ryan apologises; [Mike Scrafton inside the mind of a whistleblower]
• · · · · · · The new Czech government has passed its first major test Mr Gross and his coalition narrowly survived the confidence vote - scraping though a vote of confidence in parliament; [In Hungary, however, Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy steps down