Who is Canada's Geekiest Politician?

Much is being made of President-Elect Barak Obama being a Geek. If you read the article and there are a score of them, he has all the signs. First of all, he read comic books, he flashed the Vulcan salute to Leonard Nimoy. He is quoted as saying:

I grew up on Star Trek. I believe in the final frontier.

He also made a "Star Trek" joke to his wife, and promptly laughed while she rolled her eyes. A typical response of a wife of a geek. As well, to say nothing of his Blackberry which seems never to leave his side.

If there is one flaw, as some would consider, it is that he uses a Zune rather then an iPod. Which some might consider a character flaw, while others might see as part of his true maverick nature. While the rest of the world chases after the iPod, Barak Obama follows the way of the Zune.

This led to me think, does Canada have a geek politician? I was thinking of using the title: "Yeah but does he know the Babylon 5 Mantra. I'll tell you what it is later: still who is Canada's Geekiest Politician?

I have to admit, I'm kind of drawing a blank on this one. If you go through the list of present and immediate past, it's kind of hard. None of the crop seem like they are geeks, or if they are, they hide it quite well. No doubt all of them have Blackberries, but is there the same attachment. Can we imagine Stephen Harper giving the Vulcan Salute to Leonard Nimoy. For some reason, not likely. I could be wrong, he was a political wonk growing up. And if this photograph is to be believed:



he may have been a geek. I could be wrong but I can't imagine Mr. Harper peppering any speeches with Star Trek or Star Wars references. I mean it would be cool if he did. I was going to make some reference to his speeches containing Klingon words and phrases, as some might suggest- the whole evil empire appearance he has- but even that would be great. After all, the Klingons are a people of honour. So if a critic was to make a Klingon reference to Mr. Harper, it would be more a demonstration of how little the critic knows about Klingons.

So consider now the recent past Liberal leader, Stéphane Dion. Okay, we have considered him long enough, the answer is, no. What about the new leader, Michael Ignatieff. Well, the photgraph reveals he doesn't dress very well, so that is a point in his favour. He does have a twitter account, although in two months, he has 17 updates. That may change now that he is leader of the Liberal Party. Still something about him strikes me that he would be far more comfortable with a quill pen then the modern technology. To his credit, he is an author, so he is creative but I wonder if he has done any mash-ups.

Then there is Jack Layton or as he mother calls him, John Gilbert Layton. Well, he does have a twitter account, which seems more used then Mr. Ignatieff. He is on Facebook. He does videos. He may be as close to as geek as we find but for some reason it's just not the same.

I got to think, none of our leaders would feel comfortable attending an MC Frontalot concert. I'm sorry, but I think our leaders lack a certain geekness.

Now as for the B5 Mantra, and if you are a geek, you know it, but just in case, it was first given by Susan Ivanova:

I'd like you to take the time to learn the Babylon 5 mantra.

Ivanova is always right.
I will listen to Ivanova.
I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations.
Ivanova is god.
And, if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out!

In other news: the Saudi Tanker was freed. The pirates got their satchel of money and everybody went home happy. Well, I suppose the crew was not happy to spend an extre month and a half on board when they could have been home with family. But all of them are safe. All it cost was 3Million Dollars. When you think about it, had the Saudis or the tanker owners simply given the money, there would have been no delay. Got to hand it to the Somali pirates, they are honest businessmen.

As for MC Frontalot, I watched Nerdcore Rising, a great documentary that examines and records MC Frontalot's first cross country tour. Must have been great. If you are not familiar with the Front, you can listen to "Penny Arcade" here.

It's Friday night. Have a great one.

Peace.