Others are now commenting on the Curse. Ed Stelmach being Alberta's 13th Premier will he inherit the Strom Curse? I have said so pundits from the right including his opponent Ted Morton have said so. And now the MSM are speculating.
Strom and Stelmach share something else. They are Alberta's 'rural' Premiers. Sharing the roles of Minister of Agriculture and now the Minister of Everything.
Stelmach confronts ghost of Harry Strom
Albertans ask if new Premier will suffer fate of Socred boss's 1971 loss to Lougheed
The worst criticism of Stelmach during the campaign was that he was dull and unimaginative. More than once, particularly in the last week, he was referred to unfavourably as the ''next Harry Strom,'' the last Social Credit premier in that party's 36-year reign.
But even if he can suture his party's wounds, another question is being whispered in Tory circles: is Stelmach the next Harry Strom? Strom was the province's last farmer turned premier. He was elected leader of the Social Credit party in 1968, then lost the next general election to Peter Lougheed's Progressive Conservatives in 1971.Alliance Party Leader Paul Hinman said Stelmach's "good guy" persona is reminiscent of Socred Harry Strom, who turned over the reins of power to the Tories in 1971. "He's working on healing the party and talking to the grassroots," said Hinman. "I think it's a little too late and that this is the beginning of the end of the Tories."
It's the curse. Not that Strom was a bad Premier he was just a lame duck Premier in a province about to burst forth in a decade long boom. Hmmm sounds familiar.
He Had good ideas and put public education and post secondary education at the top of his agenda. The Socreds opened the U of L as one of few truly experimental open liberal arts universities in North America.
All in all Strom's short term in office was good for Alberta. It just was the party, it had staled and now rather than being a beer bash was really suffering a thrity years hangover, and the blahs. Like a bad guest you discover has stayed behind, after the last partier left, still wearing a lampshade because he thought it was funny before he passed out.
The party was stale, out of ideas, marking time, pacing in one place, in other words it sounds like the Tories of today. Is there really a Strom Curse?
Is 13 really unlucky? And what will it mean for Alberta's 13th Premier?
The origin of Unlucky 13
Or does it signify ultimate change, as in the 13th card in the Tarot.
XIII
Death
13. Death.--Death, Change, Transformation, Alteration for the worse; R. Death just escaped, Partial change, Alteration for the better.  Click to enlarge color image The veil or mask of life is perpetuated in change, transformation and passage from lower to higher, and this is more fitly represented in the rectified Tarot by one of the apocalyptic visions than by the crude notion of the reaping skeleton. Behind it lies the whole world of ascent in the spirit. The mysterious horseman moves slowly, bearing a black banner emblazoned with the Mystic Rose, which signifies life. Between two pillars on the verge of the horizon there shines the sun of immortality. The horseman carries no visible weapon, but king and child and maiden fall before him, while a prelate with clasped hands awaits his end. Death (La Mort) The Child of the Great Transformers; The Lord of the Gate of Death Card Number: 13 Key Number: 24 Rulership: Scorpio Hebrew Letter: Nun Translation: Fish Numerical Value: 12 | |
| Divinatory meaning
The Symbolism of the Tarot Fatigued by the flashing of the Wheel of Life, I sank to earth and shut my eyes. But it seemed to me that the Wheel kept turning before me and that the four creatures continued sitting in the clouds and reading their books. Suddenly, on opening my eyes, I saw a gigantic rider on a white horse, dressed in black armour, with a black helmet and black plume. A skeleton's face looked out from under the helmet. One bony hand held a large, black, slowly-waving banner, and the other held a black bridle ornamented with skulls and bones. And, wherever the white horse passed, night and death followed; flowers withered, leaves drooped, the earth covered itself with a white shroud; graveyards appeared; towers, castles and cities were destroyed. Kings in the full splendour of their fame and their power; beautiful women loved and loving; high priests invested by power from God; innocent children--when they saw the white horse all fell on their knees before him, stretched out their hands in terror and despair, and fell down to rise no more. Afar, behind two towers, the sun sank. A deadly cold enveloped me. The heavy hoofs of the horse seemed to step on my breast, and I felt the world sink into an abyss. But all at once something familiar, but faintly seen and heard, seemed to come from the measured step of the horse. A moment more and I heard in his steps the movement of the Wheel of Life! An illumination entered me, and, looking at the receding rider and the descending sun, I understood that the Path of Life consists of the steps of the horse of Death. The sun sinks at one point and rises at another. Each moment of its motion is a descent at one point and an ascent at another. I understood that it rises while sinking and sinks while rising, and that life, in coming to birth, dies, and in dying, comes to birth. "Yes," said the voice. The sun does not think of its going down and coming up. What does it know of earth, of the going and coming observed by men? It goes its own way, over its own orbit, round an unknown Centre. Life, death, rising and falling--do you not know that all these things are thoughts and dreams and fears of the Fool"? | |
And in Canadian politics 13 has been unlucky.
13th Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
(Progressive Conservative)
Harry Corwin Nixon
13th Premier of OntarioIn office
May 18, 1943 – August 17, 1943
13th PM of Quebec
Félix-Gabriel Marchand
As premier, Marchand attempted to create a Ministry of Education in 1898. At the time, education was entirely in the hands of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church in the province. His legislation was passed by the Legislative Assembly (the lower chamber of Quebec's legislature), but was defeated in the Legislative Council (the upper house). It was not until 1964 that a Ministry of Education was finally created in Quebec.
As it has in American politics
| Millard Fillmore | |
 | |
| | |
| In office July 9, 1850 – March 4, 1853 | |
| Vice President(s) | none |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Zachary Taylor |
| Succeeded by | Franklin Pierce |
| | |
| In office March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850 | |
| President | Zachary Taylor |
| Preceded by | George M. Dallas |
| Succeeded by | William R. King |
| | |
| Born | January 7, 1800 Summerhill, New York |
| Died | March 8, 1874 Buffalo, New York |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse | Abigail Powers Fillmore (1st wife) Mrs. Caroline Carmichael McIntosh (2nd wife) |
| Religion | Unitarian |
| Signature |  |
Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the thirteenth President of the United States, serving from 1850 until 1853, and the last member of the Whig Party to hold that office. He succeeded from the Vice Presidency on the death of President Zachary Taylor, who died of acute gastroenteritis, becoming the second U.S. President to assume the office in this manner. Fillmore was never elected President in his own right; after serving out Taylor's term he was not nominated for the Presidency by the Whigs in the 1852 Presidential election, and in 1856 he again failed to win election as President as the Know Nothing Party candidate.
After all when it comes to the irrational, politics and the occult share a common psychology.
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