They believe th...

The Iranian regime loves to boast of...

You know, reading Linda’s piece, I don’t recall Doug Ford being so critical when he was calling me and asking me to join their campaign. Funny, that.

 I don't see tons of cars on the roads that...

Entering Europe by plane requires a brief wait in line followed by free access to almost every country.

Canada?

Well the line at immigration at Pearson is vast and slow. And crossing to Buffalo ain't no great pleasure.

Still, I'm home and very glad of it.

Our border system needs work - on many levels - but Canada is the best place to be.

I guess that's why so many people want to get in!

You know your government is light on achievements when they're hailing the extension of a maintenance contract. What next: "Conservative Govenment Pledges Lots Of Toilet Paper In HOC Men's Room"?

Rex Murphy says that Michael Ignatieff has learned a lot from his summer tour. I agree. Apart from learning how to campaign as the national leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, he has gained more respect from Canadians, myself included. When an election comes, he will be ready with the skills necessary. Michael Ignatieff is back in the game.

So, good on Mr. Ignatieff for doing what, for him, doesn't come with Tobinesque ease and skill. For defying the awkwardness that is inevitably attendant on anyone's first real efforts at the political game.

It's been a full two weeks since Australia's federal election ended up with a literal tie, 72 for PM Julia Gillard's Labor Party, and 72 for the Opposition Liberal/National Coalition, with four independents, one Green, and one Western Australia National (a member of the National Party who doesn't sit with the Coalition automatically). The popular vote rests at 43.3 for the Coalition, 38.0 for Labor, and 11.7 for the Greens. The two-party preferred vote is, so far, exactly even - 50% to 50%.

Right now, Labor leads in the seat count with 74 seats, as both ...

The U.K. Census debate looks quite a bit like ours, minus the Libertarian crazy talk . In any case, a good overview of the issues involved should

The land outside looks much like Nunavut -- perhaps a bit more lush... .

The Wildrose in the last two weeks have pointed out two things: That the Wildrose caucus in Edmonton should be allowed to print whatever they wish and quote whomever they wish at any amount they wish on the tax payers’ dime. To go counter to this is censorship. [1] [2] That the documentary on the [...]

A graphic showing the narrow climactic range during which human civilization has flourished; the dashed yellow line shows how quickly we are leaving this zone.
...

Little mosque on the permafrost

Interesting enough the logistical nightmare of moving a building is, but in the story they quote a reference from stats can that says Islam is the fastest growing religion in the NWT and that makes me wonder.....why?

Another oil rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico. This proves that we need to do something about oil companies. There has to be inspectors going to oil rigs for every company to make sure they are safe, clean and not at any risk of exploding.  I t doesn't matter how the goverment pays for this either make oil campanies pay for them and reward the safest oil comapanies with oil contracts, or the goverment paying for it and increase fines for unsafe oil campanies. It doesn't matter, because if an oil rig is going to blow out every 6 months clearly something must be done. There should be heafty fines for oil campanies that don't follow the rules....

Public sector wage freeze could lead to strikes: CAW - thestar.com

For some reason I get the feeling that the CAW does not understand that there really is no money and that our province is broke and now considered to be a have not province. For this group of people to be begging for wage increases at a time when many Ontarians are unemployed and underemployed and facing wage cuts, it isn't right that one group of people feel that they are entitled to more of your precious tax dollars that would be better off spent paying down our massive deficit.
Just where does the CAW think the money comes from? And why do they feel that...

 I'm looking for some further information on the matter of the city of Woodstocks' bylaw enforcement officer charging the auctioneer for the Woodstock Horticultural Societies' Annual Plant Auction with operating an UNAUTHORIZED AUCTION in the past couple of months. Apparently there is a trial coming up...I think the date is the 20th of October and I would hope that the city tosses this charge out against the local society and its' auctioneer..
  Okay Mike...you have a great job, you generally do a great job but this I cannot and will not agree with under any circumstances. Your job is to look for serious issues, not pick on people who are there to assist our community...these people contribute heavily to our town. Issuing a warning or notifying them that there is a b...

Asbestos flooding B.C. with a 'steady stream of death'

Hmm, Canada is one of the largets exporters of Asbestos and related products on the entire globe. It's kind of odd that the feds say it's totally safe, but here you have a group of people including BC's government saying it causes cancers?
What the heck...we cannot have it both ways. Either it kills you or it doesn't.
And on that matter, I wonder how the asbestos removal is going at the old CEC/Canada Post site here in Woodstock and the old Capitol theatre demolition going on in Woodstock? If death from asbestos exposure can occur after only 24 hours of exposure(it takes 20 years or more to manifes...

North Korea makes move to extend dynastic rule

The poor people of North Korea.
If there was ever a place that needed "regime change"...this one is it.
How we as a world can let this place led by these people continue on is beyond me especially when we've driven out less savoury rulers in the past.
I guess if North Korea had oil or something equally required by the west, we'd be in there dragging the sunglassed mini monster out of his crack house and into the world courts of justice.
The people of North Korea deserve some peace and security and food security for once in their miserable lives. Instead what they get is a succession based leadership that...

Canadians don't want 'prisons and planes': Ignatieff

Canadians can do better than this.
I don't know if any party is the one to trust on that matter of national health care, but I will agree that Ignatieff is correct in stating that Canadians don't want to see their tax dollars being wasted buying votes and building prisons for non-existent crimes that seem to exist only in the Tory justice ministers' mind, and Canadians don't want billions spent on un-tendered contracts for air defense while Canada is not making ends meet financially and there are ongoing threats to national health care.
Whatever the case is, how about electing people who aren't up to creating t...

So the new rug in the Oval Office has a quote on it from Martin Luther King that he got from someone else.
It must be Obama's fault!
The American media love stories like this -- everybody can babble on about it without having to do any boring, time-consuming research.

Now that we know how much the federal government is willing to contribute, it's clear that the Region of Waterloo can't afford the proposed LRT. The combined provincial/federal contributions leaves $235M to the Region and that is too much for us to carry. LRT is dead.

Well, not really. Now there's talk of going to the Region's Plan B, Bus Rapid Transit, or shortening the LRT route.

In the BRT plan, curbs are inserted in the middle of our streets so that buses can run in dedicated lanes. The BRT has many of the disadvantages of LRT:
It disrupts ca...

Are, in my opinion, at the corner of Crescent and Ste. Catherine on Montreal's west side any, and I mean any, nice summer night.

surveying the world, said that "The UK's (not so) fairer sex were also accused of unashamedly breaking wind and belching in public, of letting their fat hang out, were smothered in 'bad tattoos' and committed crimes against fashion by proudly sporting 'too-tight bikinis and football shirts'."...

The Kennedy's of course are the Edmontonian ten million lotto aires that aren't going to quit their jobs.

For the full story go back one to The Gloss....

Ah, a sweet story that...

Larry O'Brien has already knocked one out of the box, that being Alex Cullen.

If he can knock out another one, Clive Doucet, then the prize is Jim Watson's.

But if Mr. Doucet stays true then Mr. O'Brien may squeak in with 40 points.

This is not good.

Hizzonner makes Stephen Harper look like a thoughtful and kind socialist.

It is your capital.

Another story about another company laying off a percentage of their workforce. This time all we're told is that 81 employees were laid off, representing 5% of the workforce, and that the company "ended production of some unprofitable products".

I wonder what would happen if companies were expected to report more information about layoffs - and by "expected" I mean by law where possible, and by convention and community standards otherwise. And if they don't provide the info, newspapers should investigate and get the goods.

The information I'm looking for has to do with the negative side of layoffs. How long, on average, had these people worked there? What percentage got a good performance ranking in t...

From

This would be the definition of a bad day.

You wake up in the morning feeling kind of sh*tty so you go on Wait, it gets worse. Your hom...

Has been since July. The reason I mention that is that the fact that she has been in for the last six weeks has given me an opportunity to see the health care system from the inside.

You know, it is pretty good.

Even the food. She has developed a wicked Ensure habit.

But it could be a lot better.

The next Prime Minister of Canada hit the nail on the head when he said, in an article widely distributed in Our Home And Native Land, including...

I want to be clear here, so that if in the future I present a negative point about Sun TV, that I won't be characterized as someone who wanted them shut down from day one. I don'...

If Kory Teneycke's op ed against Margaret Atwood is an example of the level of journalistic rigour and commitment to truth and accuracy that we can expect in his new network, we're in trouble.
Here's the way Kory put it, compared to reality:
Kory:

Avaaz, an American special interest group funded by U.S. billionaire George Soros . . . Avaaz ("voice" in Persian) . . . ignorant U.S. fringe group

Avaaz.org is a new global online advocacy commun...

If Kory Teneycke's op ed against Margaret Atwood is an example of the level of journalistic rigour and commitment to truth and accuracy that we can expect in his new network, we're in trouble.
Here's the way Kory put it, compared to reality:
Kory:

Avaaz, an American special interest group funded by U.S. billionaire George Soros . . . Avaaz ("voice" in Persian) . . . ignorant U.S. fringe group

Avaaz.org is a new global online advocacy commun...

What should progressives think about Faux News North?

The problem with Faux News is not with the message it's about the volume and persistence of the message. It's like that whack-a-mole game, you can't squash all of the lies. It's not just SunTV. It's the National Post, the Toronto Star, the Fraser Institute, the Manning Centre, the Sun newspapers, etc. The one thing they are good at is staying on message. By pushing the same lie...

Before he was against the Long gun registry, Stephen Harper was for it.

He was for it when he thought it was good policy, claiming it could be "helpful" and voted for its creation twice; but when principles conflicted with getting elected, Stephen Harper was quick to Stephen Harper...

All this talk about defamation suits between current and former provincial politicians in Quebec got me wondering.

Whatever happened to this...

In the wake of Dr. David Schindler's recent oil sands pollution study , the Edmonton Journal has decided to run a three part feature on Fort Chipewyan and the community's health concerns . Unlike other media outlets, the Journal has been hesitant to explore or comment on the issue. While CBC Edmonton has had an in-depth, feature section on the issue for years now (they were also the first news outlet to break the story) and the Journal's sister publications in Calgary and Saskatoon published...

I saw “Vampires Suck” [7/10] Friday night, and it was pretty good for a spoof. I think “Dead and Loving It” made more than a decade ago, was much funnier though. Dragon Boats are Saturday, and elsewhere is the RCMP Musical Ride. ...

Something caught my eye this morning. Here's the story . To be completely honest, it caught my girlfriend's eye. My reaction was "So what?" and she said "Well, I just think it's interesting. Everytime you hear about soldiers dying over there you hear that they have young children. Guess their children aren't so young anymore."

It's true. The children of soldiers who were deployed in 2002 are now eight years older. A 9 or 10 year old, not even in highschool when the Twin Towers came down, is now heading to university. To put it another way, the children of the younger members of our military are just about ready to join dad or mom in Afghanistan....

Before the Harper government chose Mike Lake as one of their point men for the long-form census debate , his most notable achievement was to be conned into submitting a petition to place Bigfoot on the endangered species list by a well-known Bigfoot hoaxer. Despite what he was saying way back then, he was...

Off until Tuesday.   To all my readers in Canada and the US, Happy Labour Day ... for many of us this is the start of our "real" year so let's hope it's a good one.

I’m at our place by the beach in Maine as I write this. If Hurricane Earl has devastated the coast, as the media said Earl would, someone should tell this guy who is swimming in the puny waves.

New laws have been put inplace about using your phone while driving is dangerouse. Oprah Winfrey even started a pledge to stop people from driving while using the phone. The issue isn't that you can damage your car and hurt yourself it is that you can in danger others. Not just the people in the cars infront of you, but also in construction areas where workers are holding stop signs telling you to slow down. That is exactly what happened to traffic controller Jennifer Beauregard, 23 she got hit by an SUV. Why? Because the man who was driving was texting. Jennifer was lucky to survive the crash. She had many broken bones, brain damage and she was in a coma for 6 days. Don't cause another person to die, because you wanted to talk to your friend. ...

Saturday, September 4, 2...

A mix of old and new and for the first time a double tie for rankings.

While the Parliamentary Press Gallery furiously debate who,exactly, first broke the news about Guy Giorno’s departure, I think the rest of us should wildly speculate about who will be his successor. We’ll have zero impact on the decision, naturally, but it’ll be fun. And – who knows – someone may actually get it right. Nominate your pick(s) in comments.

Even without a nation-wide delivery , Korn-Kob Kory Teneycke -- a Harper disciple sent out to muddy the media waters with bile and propaganda -- is demonstrating his pure lack of ethical moxie for all to see.
Irked by the very popular Avaaz Anti-Sun TV petition and its apparent punk-abili...

That the right is always complaining that the left dominates the news media and all that when it is really the right, in my town Lowell Green and Steve Madely and Mark Sutcliffe come to mind, in Alberta, Dave Rutherford, in the States Rush and Beck and Liddy and Dr. Laura and and and yet the right is always bitching.

http://www.thestar.com/mobile/NEWS/article/856676

An editorial from the left coast for you to check out.

Greens' legacy is one of split votes, failed dreams
Brilliant strategy, but the real issue for party supporters is whether they want to continue to vote for a movement that shows little room for gr...

Alberta Liberal Caucus Communications just posted a new video featuring Laurie Blakeman. In the video she's encouraging Albertans to speak up about how they want to see the land used in the Lower Athabasca region. Its' a direct response to the recommendations about the Lower Athabasca Land Use framework.

An upbeat song from week. I have no idea what they're talking about. Something about freestyle DJing or along those lines? Or doing things the way you want to? Rule breaking? Whatever it...

Begging for boxes?

Lureen.

Stephen's wife.

Apparently they are going to moving out of 24 Sussex and back to their dreamy Calgary digs and none to soon.

In the Jane Taber reported that "Michael Ignatieff's Liberals would eke out a razor-thin minority government, winning 10 more seats than Step...

They now sell potato chips that reseal.

Hilarious.

Seriously, when we, the potato chip consumers, buy chips, we buy them to eat them.

In response to an Ottawa Sun editorial about the hundreds of unnecessary arrests at the G20 protests, Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union president Dave Coles writes a letter to the editor

I was there and tried to help diffuse the tension caused by police behaving violently but, of course, there were other agendas at play -- like trying to justify the $2-billion security price tag. And like arresting journalists to try to prevent them from doing their jobs, which would expose that fact.

Mayoralty candidate Smitherman admits to staffer Erika Mozes he cursed at a young female volunteer.

I think Conventional Wisdom is swinging against the Harper Conservatives. A summer marked by a thousand needless arrests, tanking poll numbers, stupid press conferences, arbitrary firings and PMO office resignations has forced even John Ibbitson to raise a mild question about Prime Minister Sweater's managerial brilliance.
And Harper shouldn't be waiting for Kory Teneycke to cover his back -- Kory has got some credibility problems of his own to deal with....

A quick look at cyberpresse.ca shows that Jack Layton's gun registry policy is not gaining the sort of traction that Layton needs or wants.

The gun registry related political cartoons on Quebec's major newspaper website shows just how far off the rails Jack Layton's NDP has gone in la belle province .

Hey! Hey! Hey! Look! It's not a long gun any more...no need to register! -  Serge Chapleau, La Presse

...

September 3, 2010 : Guy Giorno, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's most senior adviser, is stepping down, as the Conservatives seek to...