According to this article:
Shouldn't we be doing everything we can to promote and encourage wind power?
City officials say the wind generators are not authorized in residential areas because of issues related to noise, safety and visual impact on the neighbourhood.
Ah, You Tube is a wonderful thing.
Here is (one of) the CPC attack ads on Mr. Dion
So John Murney over at his blog is making the typical right-wing argument against any sort of government intervention into the "free" market. (Or in this case the "fee" market)
He then goes on to say in the comments section (defending his post)
The fact that Canadian banks are very profitable is no excuse for banning ATM fees. Any piece of capital should be able to recoup its costs, and ATM machines are no exception.
The answer to Mr. Murney's question is 1545.
Jeesh! When did profit become a bad thing?!
That little gem is from Adam Smith from his Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
In countries where interest is permitted, the law, in order to prevent the extortion of usury, generally fixes the highest rate which can be taken without incurring a penalty. This rate ought always to be somewhat above the lowest market price, or the price which is commonly paid for the use of money by those who can give the most undoubted security.
I can't believe this is not front page news everywhere:
So what you say?
Two election workers were convicted Wednesday of rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election to avoid a more thorough review in Ohio's most populous county.
That's 2, count them, 2 elections that Bush stole.
Ohio gave President Bush the electoral votes he needed to defeat Democratic Sen. John Kerry in the close election and hold on to the White House in 2004
And that is obviously saying something.
Dr. Roy (I cant, just can't, believe he is a real Doctor) has this to say about the possible Hillary Clinton candidacy:
Hat Tip cc
I began to think about other things as well. [sic] One of them being Hillary Clinton and how to stop her from the Presidency[sic]. I had a malicious thought, that perhaps her candidacy violates the spirit of the 22nd amendment of the constitution[sic]. Sionce [sic] her husband cannot run, this is an attempt to bypass the constitution. In any case she acted like a co President for 8 years[sic]. So I think her candidacy is unconstitutional.
So it seems that the Alberta Conservatives just sort of, you know, forgot to turn over the required paperwork for the last 20 years of election financing.
It just, you know, slipped their mind.
Every year.
For 20 years.
We can all remember what happened in Saskatchewan when the Conservatives made a bit of slip-up when it came to financial paperwork.
They all went to jail
So I guess this reminds me of a post I made a while back - why Conservatives and Handcuffs just seem to go together so well.
In my ongoing quest to create a group of Saskatchewan Progressive Bloggers I have created the following web site:
http://www.saskatchewanprogressive.blogspot.com/
This is the start of creating an aggregator/gathering place for the bloggers who are both from Saskatchewan and are progressive.
Hope people find this to be of value.
Some people have been wondering if the equalization issue has "legs", that is, do people care about it?
Well I know that the blogging community isn't exactly a representative sample of the "real world" but on the other hand, I would guess that we are what pollsters and opinion experts call "opiion shapers". In other words, if we all care about a topic, then we will lead other people to care about a topic.
So lets look in at the blogging world on the latest equalization promise, shall we?
Saskboy writes:
The Jurist weighs in:
Harper’s gamble that he can pander to Quebec at the expense of Westerners who he’s just screwed over, is going to be called.
and at Canada's Debate:
After the firestorm this week surrounding the Cons' apparent plan to break their promises on equalization, PMS' provincial and federal allies alike are going out of their way to say that nothing's been set in stone - while of course refusing to suggest what else might be on the way instead.
Cowboys for Social Responsibility:
Well the shit seems to have hit the fan. Harper’s plan to “fix” the fiscal imbalance has been announced, and not surprisingly people from the provinces most effected (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland) are the ones who are the most upset.
Ken Chapman asks "What is Stephen Harper Thinking?"
The province will get $600 million less than the Cartman Tories promised - a backhanded slap costing the province $50 million per Tory MP.
Eugene Plawiuk chimes in:
Wasn’t it just this kind of pandering to Quebec politics that started the Reform Party in the first place? Wasn’t Stephen Harper around then?
Laddie is fairly blunt in his comments:
Call me sceptical, call me a lifelong Albertan, but the True Blue Tory types in Alberta will deny, deny, deny this is a new NEP. Well it is.
Nicole Martel opines:
Stephen "Two-Face" Harper doesn't want to lose the 10 seats that the Conservatives have picked up in Quebec, but the 12 seats in Saskatchewan are up for grabs!
The Northern Liberal says:
No matter how the Conservatives try to position themselves, this proposal will certainly cause backlash from their Western base. Mostly because it is another broken promise to a group that is still dealing with the reversal on income trusts and appointing unelected senators to cabinet posts
And to come full circle, Saskboy again
I can see no other logical explanation for Harper not following through on his promise to exclude resource revenues from the calculation of equalization other than to divert more money into vote-rich Quebec. If you can--please--I'd like to hear it.
Wow! This is obviously a pretty important issue - at least in the blogosphere.
Harper has done it. He’s given the cheeky middle finger to Saskatchewan.
So I am a member of both the Progressive Bloggers and the Saskatchewan Bloggers and the people that administer both of those sites are doing great things and are a real asset to the community.
However, I wanted a subset of both of those blog systems and I looked around and there were none.
So I decided to create it.
Announcing the Saskatchewan Progressive Bloggers
Update: New Web Site for this blogroll here
Paul Wells was kind enough to link to my blog yesterday and then (in the spirit of bipartisanship or something) posted an e-mail that he got from a reader criticizing me and/or my blog.
The e-mail writer then went on to say:
Maybe I’m a bit slow, or maybe it’s the over gleeful partisan nature of you and that mouse thingy you linked to, but I’m not seeing where the Tories are in trouble. We’ve got a Radio Canada leak of possible solutions, and then the Brad Trost quote looks only to guarantee the “best deal” ever, which doesn’t even seem to be violated by the RC leak.
Mr. Wells then went on to eviscerate this person's attack on Wells' blog. Very, very effective.
Post some information rather than a smirk, or link to someone who can write for an audience that doesn’t already agree with him 1000%. Partisan blogs more than have their role, but to explain to the public outside of Sask. Such partisan abstruseness doesn’t help.
Here is what Saskatchewan Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski said
The Prime Minister is also failing Saskatchewan on equalization. The government promised to reform the equalization program in 2004 for Saskatchewan. The government now says it will not get to that until at least 2006, costing Saskatchewan over $750 million in lost revenue. When will the Prime Minister overrule his finance minister and make the changes necessary, so Saskatchewan does not lose this money?
And here is what Saskatchewan Conservative MP Brad Trost had to say:
"By my understanding, if Saskatchewan were allowed to keep 100% of its non-renewable natural resources, it would mean an estimated $800 million yearly and perhaps even higher than that".
"In fact, if Saskatchewan had a proper, fair and just equalization formula right now, at today's oil prices Saskatchewan would be receiving, by my calculations, anywhere between $800 million and $1.5 billion in additional revenue each and every year. Of course we do not have that agreement"
For the record they did not campaign on putting a "cap" on payments after taking resource revenues out of the system.
Brad Trost said while caucus discussions are confidential, MPs from Saskatchewan are intent on keeping their promise to get a new equalization deal for the province. "Let me give you a 100 per cent guarantee, Prime Minister Harper will give Saskatchewan the best deal it's ever had from any prime minister ever, " he said. Asked if that would be the same deal the Conservatives campaigned on, Trost said: "If it isn't, it better be better."
According to the CBC Prime Minister Harper is all set to keep one of his major election promises and be an all-around good guy:
Oh wait.
Radio Canada reported Monday that Ottawa will increase transfer payments to the provinces in the area of education, post-secondary education and infrastructure.
Continue Article
As well, Quebec would get an extra $1.5 billion in equalization payments.
What was that promise again? The one the Conservatives made in their platform?
It suggested that half of the revenues of the provinces drawn from natural resources be included in the calculation of equalization payments.
Work to achieve with the provinces permanent changes to the equalization formula which would ensure that non-renewable natural resource revenue is removed from the equalization formula to encourage economic growth. We will ensure that no province is adversely affected from changes to the equalization formula.
Well, at least one of the top Conservative Cabinet Ministers is on it. I mean, Ms. Ambrose did such a good job in Environment that she got this.... promotion.
So Alberta and Saskatchewan (otherwise known as the core base) will be opposed. Danny Williams will be hoping mad and Dalton "election year" McGuinty will pile on. Out of the frying pan into....another frying pan Ms. Ambrose - this will be very interesting.
Typical. If it helps Quebec, screw the west!
This will probably cause some trouble with Sasketchewan ,Alberta and Newfoundland. I think it is worth that risk.
Mr. Wells, if the Premier's office doesn't get back to you you just have to look here
As another election promise breathes its last gasps
Hey, someone in Lorne Calvert's office: remind me the names of those Saskatchewan Conservative MPs who used to bug the Liberals about resource revenues and equalization? Let's make their lives hell, shan't we...
Not even the died-in-the-wool, whatever-you-say-is-right, brand of Republicans are starting to turn on Bush. From a Newsweek story:
Bush expected at least a handful of Republican senators—critics like Chuck Hagel and George Voinovich—to run from a troop increase. But the White House was surprised when even pro-war senators, including Sam Brownback and Lisa Murkowski, came out against the plan.
And that's from a pro-bush polling company
For the second straight day, 35% of Americans approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That’s the lowest level of Approval ever measured by Rasmussen Reports.
What's that you say - this must be from my comic book collection?
Nope.
the BBC.
Police on Tyneside are seeking a man carrying a sword who came to the aid of plain clothes officers during a burglary attempt.
The officers were threatened by a man with a knife after they discovered armed men trying to break into a house in Laygate, South Shields.
Another man armed with a samurai sword appeared and attacked the man with the knife, before leaving the scene.
I didn't know this, but I guess every year, God takes some time to talk to Pat Robertson and give him some guidance about the year ahead. This has all the trappings of typical so-called prognosticators. For example:
So basically, whatever happens, turns out to be what was predicted, even if it is the complete opposite.
In May, Robertson said God told him that storms and possibly a tsunami were to crash into America's coastline in 2006. Even though the U.S. was not hit with a tsunami, Robertson on Tuesday cited last spring's heavy rains and flooding in New England as partly fulfilling the prediction.
Hat Tip to Scott Feschuck who points out:
Pat Robertson said Tuesday God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would result in "mass killing" late in 2007. "I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear," he said during his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network. "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that."
Plus, you know, wouldn't it have been great if God had made that prediction back in, oh, I don't know, .....
Don’t you just hate it when an omnipotent deity fails to be specific while foretelling the deaths of millions of your countrymen and women? Frustrating!)
So Paul Well's Muses about a missing report. His musing is covered by Cherniak and Calgary Grit.
Greg at political staples doesn't seem to know what all the fuss is about:
Do you remember back when then Opposition member Deb Grey was looking for a report that the government wouldn't or couldn't produce?
You know, the report that not a single soul gave a damn about a week ago. I must and I mean must see that report now!
Didn't that lead to something?
This public works magician has put out the all points bulletin to help him find this famous half million dollar missing report. His Liberal logic would try to dictate to us that these so-called supporting documents he keeps talking about ought to be enough and why is anyone worried or embarrassed about it. The question is this: why and how does the government keep taxpayers' dollars just vanishing into thin air?
So to take a break from politics for a minute - the information is starting to trickle in that Apple is introducing a new combination iPod / iPhone today.
Some of the highlights:
It is a Widescreen iPod / Mobile Phone with a 3.5" screen with 160 pixels per inch
There are Touchscreen controls that change based on what you are doing (phone call has phone buttons, music has music buttons etc) and supoosedly it somehow ignores unintended touches
It will syncs with iTunes, just like the iPod using a cradle and will Sync music, movies, podcasts, TV, photos, contacts, e-mail, notes, bookmarks, calendars, etc. all through iTunes
Includes a 2 Megapixel camera, SIM card, 3.5mm headphone jack. It will support GSM + EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth, quad-band phone, and SMS is one of the main features of the phone, it will also do e-mail (like a blackberry)
this sounds like something that I want!
Uperdate: Sure, now the real media wants to play
Update: Engadget has pictures!
So Wajid Khan has crossed from the Liberals to the Conservatives according to some bloggers
How inconvenient the Internet Archive Wayback Machine must be for MP's who cross the floor:
Mr. Khan with the Old Liberal Leader:
I guess they now choose someone different?
Wajid Khan Press Release 2004-06-29
Canadians choose Liberals to deliver the country they want
That was then and this is now
Wajid Khan Press Release 2004-06-03
Liberals boost robust economy with $2 billion investment
Or, you know, not.
Integrity and Accountability: Faith in our government is fundamental. Through real reform , open dialogue and greater transparency, Paul Martin and the new Liberal Party will restore faith in our government.
Mr. Wajid Khan (Mississauga—Streetsville, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to contribute to today's debate. In considering the question of a supposed fiscal imbalance, let me begin by suggesting that we should all take a break from rhetoric and reflect on economic reality and national responsibility.As was highlighted in the recent Speech from the Throne and the Prime Minister [Paul Martin] reply, Canada has acquired an outstanding record of economic achievement. In fact, our federation and its federal [Liberal] government are doing many things right.
And some more from hansard:
Ironic, eh? Pot calling for a Mr. Kettle. Something about being black?
Mr. Wajid Khan (Mississauga—Streetsville, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, after years of making anti-immigrant statements, the Conservatives are now trying to cast themselves as pro-immigrant. How ironic.
Mr. Wajid Khan (Mississauga—Streetsville, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party has just demonstrated why it has been in opposition for 12 years and I anticipate it will remain there for another 12.Let me set the record straight. Before I do that, the rambling speeches that I have heard in the last couple of days are full of inaccuracies to the extent that they could probably make the Guinness Book of World Records.
The fact is the deficit, unemployment, interest rates and the bankruptcies were soaring when that party was in power. Surplus after surplus after surplus has brought nothing but good to the Canadian people. The rates are low, affordability is high, tax cuts of $100 billion have been given to the people over the last five years and the country is prosperous. [under a Liberal Government]
Rona Ambrose Moves from Environment to Intergovernmental Affairs - Loser
This is a bit of a downgrade for Ambrose but with here skills in this area it is actually a better fit for her. The real winner here: The environment
John Baird Moves from Treasury Board to Environment - Winner
This is an upgrade for Baird but the problem is that the CPC is in negotiations with the other parties (particularly the NDP) when it comes to environment issues. Baird is going to have to drop his "whatever the question in QP kick the shit out of the Liberals" level of partizanship and learn to work and play well with others. The real winner here: The liberal critic for the treasury board.
Rob Nicholson Moves from House Leader to Justice - Winner
This was a big surprise and a major upgrade for Rob Nicholson. Given his stance on things like capital punishment and abortion back in the Mulroney days, look for the same brand of social conservatism as Toews brought to the portfolio. The real winner here: Rob Nicholson
Monte Solberg Mooves from Immigration to Human Resources - Winner
This is a lateral transfer or perhaps an upgrade to Solberg. 'nuff said.
Vic Toews Moves from Justice to Treasury Board - Loser
Serious downgrade for Toews. And as I said earliers, probably not due to his conservative views given who the replacement was. Perhaps he just wan't a good cabinet minister? The real winner: Provincial Justice departments who repotedly hated dealing with Toews' office.
Peter van Loan Moves from Intergovernmental Affairs to House Leader - Loser
He loses a portfolio and a ministery and gains having to shepard things through a minority parliament. The real winner: Rob Nicholson
Jason Kenney as secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity
The real loser: MulticulturalismBuckdog
If you take those four spots as young MPs being groomed for future Cabinet positions then, boy, does it ever suck to be James Moore this morning. Diane Ablonczy has also got to be feeling a bit jilted that another Calgary MP got a Cabinet spot before she did.
So that brings us to the shuffle part of this Cabinet shuffle. And it's really a mulligan for Harper. Rona Ambrose's expertise made her a logical choice for Intergovernmental Affairs back in February so that's what she gets now. Not that it really matters since it appears that Harper's Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs has fewer responsibilities than his chauffeur. Vic Toews was also a brutal choice for Justice but now that the messy Same Sex vote is beyond him, Harper has moved in a much more competent and moderate man to the portfolio. As for Baird...well, good luck - he'll need it. I'm really not sure what to make of the Solberg/Finley moves and I suspect they'll get overshadowed quite a bit; I'd be curious to hear any theories on those ones.
Jason Kenney, former Reform Party MP and extreme right wing ideologue is the new Secretary of State for multiculturalism. His former job as CEO of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has prepared him to be a 'fox in the hen house' and Harper is going to use those skills on multiculturalism.
Jason Cherniak
The size of cabinet has increased from 27 to 32 positions, with a smaller percentage of women on the team. So I guess, according to the right whingers, PMS' new cabinet is less effective, less efficient, doesn’t pay attention to the concerns of taxpayers and is now primed for nonsense.
Accidental Deliberations
2) Jason Kenney is now in cabinet. To earn this spot he misled Parliament, fibbed in his apology and supported a terrorist organization. He might be a good Parliamentary performer, but I cannot wait for his next big mistake.
3) Dianne Abolonzy has been overlooked again. Harper should be ashamed.
4) A number of Secretaries of State have been added. Harper obviously recognizes now that it was a mistake to start with such a small cabinet. Those Conservatives who lauded him for the move at first will surely condemn him now for backtracking. Or admit that they were wrong...
5) John Baird is good at pushing just about any subject in the most partisan way possible. His selection suggests that Harper was looking for a better salesperson on the environment and not a better policy. I predict that this will not work and Baird will end up looking like a bully.
Galloping Beaver
While John Baird will presumably hold up to questioning better than Rona Ambrose did in the Environment role, it's worth noting his own dubious record to date.
Baird's previous assignment likewise involved the Cons' signature piece of legislation for the year. But by the time the Accountability Act became law, it had been drained of many of the Cons' promises and had undergone major revisions to clean up serious drafting oversights...resulting in an awful lot of work for a very small increase in actual accountability. And while that kind of outcome may have been acceptable on a file where the Cons' main competitors genuinely preferred to see nothing done, it won't be good enough in an area where every other federal party has taken up the cause.
Moreover, it was Baird's stubborn refusal to acknowledge the realities of existing election law that exposed the Cons' convention fee scandal. And PMS surely can't relish the prospect of the Cons' similarly-flawed assumptions on the environment coming to light.
Ambrose was made the minister of intergovernmental affairs at the morning swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa. She will also be minister of western economic diversification
I'm sure she will ponder the state of Prince Rupert, unless she continues to take all her direction from the hacks in the Prime Minister's Office which would result in her doing absolutely nothing of value and blaming the previous government for any and all conditions she feels compelled not to address.
Have you noticed that cabinet shuffles routinely get more attention than, say, cabinets do? Does it particularly matter which minister holds which portfolio if, after nearly a year, packs of trained pundits can't identify photos of some of them?
Every environmentalist in the world should be salivating over the possibility that this is true.
The International Academy of Science has announced thier Outstanding Technology of the Year Award.
For 2006 the award goes to Dr. Robert Bussard:
For what technological breakthrough did Dr. Bussard win?
Dr. Robert W. Bussard is an American physicist working primarily in nuclear fusion energy research. Bussard received his PhD from Princeton. He is currently functioning as co-founder and director of Energy/Matter Conversion Corporation. He is the former Assistant Director to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and has held prominent positions at Los Alamos National Laboratories, Oakridge Labs, and TRW Systems.
Dr. Bussard and his team at Energy/Matter Conversion Corporation, after close to 20 years of hard work, have developed a revolutionary radiation-free fusion process that could change the world as we know it today.
Fusion is the energy that powers everything in the universe. The sun's energy comes from fusion. Alternatively, fission is the process whereby heavy atoms, which are nearly unstable, are split into two radioactive atoms. Fusion, on the other hand, is when two light atoms merge.
If this is true, and works, then this in the energy breakthrough that we have been waiting for.
I seemed to have missed this one (Watch the whole thing - it's worth it)
This is one of the best political books I have read in years. I am looking at my bookshelf and there is about 150+ books on politics and elections and campaigns.
There are only a handfull that are better than Paul Wells' new book.
It actually made me laugh out loud a number of times.
It is also full of some very good insights into the election campaigns of 2004 and 2006 (of particualr note is his anaysis of "groupthink" and the Martin insider team)
If you read this blog then I know where your interests lie.
Read this book
This list is far from complete and if you have a blog that fits the bill or know of a blog that fits the bill let me know and I will add it.
- Homer J. Simpson
