Limes with Orange

Do you live in a swing riding?

There are 65 "swing ridings" in Canada, ridings where the race between the Conservative and a non-Conservative candidate are extremely close. Voters in these ridings have the capacity to dramatically shift the outcome of the election by being strategic about who they vote for.

To find out if you live in a swing riding, you can go to VoteForEnvironment.ca and enter your postal code in the handy box on the side.

I would, however, like to comment on what the website will say if you live in a riding considered "safe" for a non-Conservative candidate. Just because it was "safe" previously, don't assume it's still safe. That non-Conservative incumbent still needs to be voted back into office on October 14. Remember, every single vote counts.

Labels: politics

I found this when I was visiting AnyoneButHarper.ca:


I also wanted to take a moment to remind people that voting for a candidate who doesn't win, is NOT a wasted vote. EVERY VOTE for a party gives them up to $8 of federal funding between elections, regardless of whether they win or not. These tax dollars are offered to parties upon receiving 2% of the popular vote. All 5 major parties -- Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats, Bloc Québécois and the Green Party -- receive federal funding.

So even if you live in a Conservative stronghold like Calgary (which I do) it is ABSOLUTELY WORTHWHILE to vote for the party that you really support. Even voting for a candidate who does not belong to one of those 5 parties counts. It's a protest vote. You're showing the government that you don't support them (and hopefully showing them the ideas that you do support). NO VOTE IS WASTED. So please vote on October 14!

(If you have any questions about the candidates or polling stations in your riding, head over to Elections Canada.)

Labels: harper bashing, politics

I'm currently watching the presidential debate and I'm moved to ask...

Is McCain really that dense? Or is he simply willfully misunderstanding everything that Obama says? Because he keeps repeating his misrepresentations of what Obama is saying and it's pissing me off. I believe it's the latter, which makes it no better really. Neither scenario makes me comfortable with the possibility that this idiot man might become president.

Labels: politics, rant

Okay, I know I said I was trying to avoid talking about politics right now because it's just so frustrating, but...

Stephen Harper is trying to tell us in his content-free TV ads that "it's a time for certainty," not for the actual concrete proposals that other leaders such as Dion, Layton and May are putting forward. Well, Mr. Harper, one of the few things that I am completely certain about in this election is that you have spent the past two years destroying this country. But I agree with you about one thing: it IS a time for certainty. The certainty of electing somebody who can put this country back together. And I am CERTAIN that leader is not you, Mr. Harper.

P.S. "Ordinary people" do care about the arts! (Check out this article by Margaret Atwood that I posted on Weirdgrrl's Words.)

P.P.S. This post has made me want to add a new label to my blog. Now, there won't just be a "bush bashing" label, a brand new "harper bashing" label has just been added to keep it company.

Labels: harper bashing, politics

From now on, I won't be updating "Things That Make You Go Huh?" That blog was really set up for a trial of Wordpress but I've obviously decided to stick with Blogger, so I don't need it anymore. Perhaps I'll use that blog title as a regular feature on "Limes with Orange" instead. I've also decided to let "Music Musings" go... "Limes with Orange" is a perfectly good place for me to talk about all pop culture stuff, including music. "Inner Game Geek" will continue because that really is a niche blog with posts that most people who read my other blogs would have no interest in. I doubt that my film blog on MySpace will continue, because I've just become to busy trying to BE a filmmaker to continue reporting on my development as a filmmaker. I will, however, continue to update "Coda in G Minor" for as long as that film is on the festival circuit.

So my main blogs will be "Limes with Orange" and "Weirdgrrl's Words." "Limes" will be for personal stories, rants, political jokes, cartoons, pop culture and other random odds and ends. I'm trying to not comment on politics at the moment, even though there are two very important elections coming up. But, quite frankly, the choices alternately depress me, anger me, or make me worried about the future Canada, our next-door neighbours and the rest of the world. In my utopia, Bob Rae would be the leader of the Liberal Party and become the next Prime Minister of Canada and Hilary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee (at least for VP!) and become the next President of the United States. Obviously, neither of those scenarios are real world options, so I'm keeping the rest of my political disappointments to myself. (But if I lose control and feel the need to rant about politics, "Limes with Orange" will be the blog for that rant.)

"Words" will be for writing, reading and editing related posts, art festivals and events, poetry, inspiration, design and anything else that seems relevant to that world. I have also added a blog feed for "Limes with Orange" to the sidebar of "Weirdgrrl's Words," so you can find out on that blog if I've updated this one. Plus I've included a box to announce upcoming screenings of my short films. So that's the one-stop spot to find out what's going on in my life.

Labels: blogging, politics

I decided to post this here, since the news has been pretty wishy washy about the role of the Conservative government in the listeriosis outbreak. And the Conservatives are actually claiming that they haven't made food inspection cuts, they've just handed over most of the inspection process to the food industry itself. Um... (a) If you've handed over responsibility to someone else for something, one would assume that means you're spending less on it. So that means there HAVE been cuts. And (b) industry regulating itself ALWAYS works so well.

So here's an article that I found interesting. Yes, it's from the Liberal Party but, out of everything I've seen and read about the outbreak, this makes a heck of a lot of sense to me...

The Conservative government continues to show a blatant disregard for Canadians with its secrecy and unaccountability around the listeriosis crisis, Liberal Public Health Critic Carolyn Bennett said this week.

"Our warnings last week that cuts to critical food inspections will endanger the health and safety of Canadians have proven to be valid," said Dr. Bennett.

"First it was a leaked Treasury Board document revealing the Conservatives' secret plans to make cuts at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and now it's the head of the union that represents food inspectors telling us that some of these cuts have already taken place. And now we have had multiple deaths linked to this tainted meat crisis.

"The death toll continues to rise and people continue to be hospitalized from tainted meat, and yet the Conservative government is misleading Canadians about its plan to abandon critical food safety inspections. This government's cavalier attitude towards Canadians' health is astonishing," she said. "Food inspectors should be inspecting food, not paper."

Read the full article...

Labels: health, politics

More Tories than ever? Are you fracking kidding me?

"Voter turnout Monday hit a new record low" (The Canadian Press)

No sh!t, Sherlock. The conspiracy theorist in me starts to look at the fact that they moved a whole slew of polling stations but didn't bother to send that information out to many of us nor did they publish that information in any of the newspapers (something that used to be standard practice). No, they only posted that information on a website that crashed because of too much traffic yesterday... gee, how could they possibly have predicted the site would get so much traffic on election day?

Are you buying that bullsh!t? Because I'm not.

Labels: politics, rant

I would like to start this post addressed to any US Democrats that happen to stumble across my blog by saying that you have two excellent political candidates in the running for the Presidential election this year. However (and call me a conspiracy theorist if you like), I think it is fair to say that the Republicans WANT Obama to win your nomination at the Democratic convention this summer because they believe they can beat him. And I believe that they would be right, not because he is unsuitable but simply because he lacks the necessary experience.

Please, please, please... when the Democratic convention comes around, remember that the dream team is truly Hilary Clinton for President and Barack Obama for Vice President (and I do think Clinton would see the good sense in having Obama as a running mate). Let him gain his experience in the Vice Presidency and take the proper time to groom him for the Presidency. If you nominate him now, I think you will lose the election and could end up demolishing a promising career. Just something to think about from someone whose country is very much affected by the presidential policies of your country.

Labels: politics

By now I'm sure that most people, even those completely outside of the entertainment industry, are well aware of the WGA writer's strike. But there is cautious optimism in the air as news trickles out that talks between studios and writers will resume next week. For more about that news, check out WILDsound's Entertainment News. I certainly hope that they can sort things out before the strike affects Battlestar Galactica (dontcha love my priorities?). But if they don't, if the final season of Battlestar gets cut short *gulp*, I still support the strike. Why? Watch this video:

Labels: film, politics, tv, videos

"Politicians and diapers should both be changed regularly, and for the same reason."
~ unknown

Labels: humour, politics, quotes

No huge municipal shake up here in Calgary. We ousted my incumbent alderman but not for the person that I voted for. We didn't even come close to ousting our mayor, so I guess our transit system will continue to be as inefficient and frustrating as it is now and our city will continue to sprawl out onto the prairies endlessly. On the bright side our measly 30% voter turnout was up from our previous municipal election turnout of 20%. Isn't apathy grand? Ack phooey!

Labels: politics

There's a bunch of Funny Protest Signs over at eBaum's World. Here's one of my favourites, showing the language of the internet being incorporated into the language of protest:


I was also rather amused by the one that said, "Bombing for Peace is like F&cking for Virginity." If you're looking for more chuckles, you might want to check out the rest of them.

Labels: bush bashing, humour, politics

Well, it's election time again. And I'm not talking about the still a year away U.S. election that the world will be watching. I'm talking about our little municipal election coming up in Calgary on October 15, 2007. My favourite level of politics used to be provincial… until I moved to Alberta. Now I find provincial politics depressing and completely devoid of hope that things might change. So I guess my new favourite level is federal, because even though it is also depressing it is only partially devoid of hope that things might change. For some reason, I find municipal elections less exciting even though the elected officials in that case are the ones that most affect my daily life… go figure (I never claimed to be logical all of the time).

I haven't decided who I'm voting for yet. I'm not a fan of our incumbent mayor but I'm just now getting my first glimpse of the alternatives. I'm also not a fan of my Ward 8 incumbent either, but again I need to check out the alternatives (the full candidate list is available as a pdf). But here are the mayoral candidates with links to their websites:

Bertram, David
Bronconnier, Dave *incumbent
Fielding, Elizabeth Kaur
Foster, Allan
Heck, Harry *interesting website
Jenkins, Sandy *well-designed website
Kassam, Alnoor *informative website
Sunstrum, Jonathan Joseph (J.J.) *intriguing approach
Zhao, Jeremy *interesting website

It's nice to see that improving public transit seems to be an important issue for most candidates. And the environment is also right up there with many of them. Some of the websites are a little sparse, which makes it harder to get to know the candidate without actually going out to events and debates. Which, given the level of voter apathy, is a risky approach. And if you're trying to capture the youth vote, you'd better have a good online presence. Just a tip for any mayoral candidates that happen to land on this blog for some reason.

There's also an interesting project going on that I'm not sure if it's too late to participate in or not. (I definitely would have been interested if I'd had the time to devote to that instead of having wasted my time recently on something that wasn't worth my effort.) ABetterCalgary.com is looking for people with devices of any kind, capable of capturing video for a documentary… intended as Michael Moore meets Beastie Boys' "I Shot That!" Its subject is the problems facing Calgary today (transportation, corruption, urban sprawl, pollution, etc.). It draws its narrative structure from following the mayoral campaign of Jonathan Joseph (J.J.) Sunstrum. So if you're interested in working on such a documentary, check out ABetterCalgary.com.

But if you do nothing else, at least check out these websites and please, please, please vote as an informed voter.

Labels: politics

I've just discovered an interesting political site: RevLeft.com leftist discussion forums. For regular readers of my blog, it will come as no surprise that my political views are rather left of centre... which can leave one feeling very lonely in the ultra-conservative oil and gas town of Calgary. Fortunately, most members of my family are on the same political page as me, probably thanks in part to the fact that my grandfather was a union activist and that my mother raised me on the plays of Bertolt Brecht. Yep, I grew up having a crush on Bob Rae and when I met Shirley Douglas, the thrill was not that she's Kiefer Sutherland's mother but that she's Tommy Douglas' daughter. But I digress...

This RevLeft forum has some interesting and intelligent discussions happening. Granted, as a socialist I end up further right on the political spectrum than many of the members of this forum (which is a novelty for me). And while there are the usual number of rabble-rousers on the forum, the members as a whole seem to be a well-read, well-informed group. Plus there are some very informative threads about political theory that I intend to go back and read when I have more time. So if your political compass points a little to the left, you might want to check this site out.

Labels: politics

There's a firestorm already started in the comments for this post about Bush's latest veto on stem cell research. I've been weighing in on this one (on the pro side for embryonic stem cell research funding, for those of you who don't know me well enough to know that's obvious). Check it out. Maybe even join the debate.

read more | digg story

Labels: health, news, politics

Last night, on Jon Stewart...

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics, tv, videos

The Young Liberals have put together a new advertising campaign that spoofs the Mac/PC commercials. It's really quite clever. Obviously the production value isn't quite as high since the Young Liberals don't have the kind of budget that Apple can throw at a commercial, but I think they're still pretty fun to watch. This one's called "Branding":


The also have one on "Global Warming" and one called "Cross Dressing." If you enjoy this one, I think you'll get a kick out of the others, too. So check 'em out!

Labels: humour, politics, videos

Q: How many US Attorney Generals does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: I cannot recall that particular answer at this time.

Labels: humour, politics

Cold War, that is!

Jon Stewart on Russia's return to form:

"Over the last few months, as we've seen Russia commit political assassinations, suppress its media and rig elections, I can't help but think: they're back, baby! Do you think they'd want to get in the Cold War again with us — because that war was awesome!"

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics

Remember my post about Cyberstalking? Well, ABC did NOT do justice to this story or our fellow blogger.

Kat was interviewed by ABC for this piece about cyberstalking. The final edit left a great deal to be desired. Kat is a strong woman who wants tough cyberstalking laws and is not afraid to speak out about her own situation. The ABC story implies that she is hiding and quaking in her boots, which is absolutely not true.

read more | digg story

And if you want to watch the oh-so-pathetic piece, here it is:

Labels: blogging, politics, rant

Okay, I've finally managed to pull a clip of Chief Tyrol's gears & levers speech from Battlestar Galactica. Compare it with the clip of Mario Savio's original speech in my Mario Savio post. And you can also compare the texts and contexts in my Gears & Levers post. Hope you find these as fascinating as I do!

Labels: battlestar galactica, politics, tv, videos

One of the more popular posts on my blog is "The Gears & The Levers" where I compare Chief Tyrol's union speech on Battlestar Galactica with the famous Mario Savio "Gears & Levers" speech during the freedom of speech movement at Berkeley during the sixties. (That post is also one of my personal favourites!)

Well, I've finally figured out a way to embed footage of Mario's original speech. When I find a way to pull the Chief's big scene out of BSG, I'll add that to this post, too.




Addendum 5.16.07: You can now see Chief Tyrol's version in my Watch BSG's Gears & Levers Speech post.

Labels: battlestar galactica, politics, videos

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show on the Democrats' efforts to lose the Iraq War:

"Last Friday the House put yet another cherry on its treason sundae by narrowly passing a war spending bill calling for the end of combat operations by next September, a plan Republicans immediately denounced as an admission of failure—as opposed to their plan, which is failure without admission."

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics

I recently came across this article called: Hacking John McCain. For those of you who haven't heard, someone on Presidential hopeful John McCain's staff used a well known template to create his MySpace page. The template was designed by Newsvine Founder and CEO Mike Davidson. Davidson had made the template code freely available to anyone who wanted to use it, but asked that he be given credit when it was used, and told users to host their own image files.

According to the Tech Crunch article, John McCain's MySpace "Enhanced":

McCain's staff used his template, but didn't give Davidson credit. Worse, he says, they use images that are on his server, meaning he has to pay for the bandwidth used from page views on McCain's site. Davidson decided to play a small prank on the campaign this morning as retribution. Since he's in control of some of the images on the site, he replaced one that shows contact information with a statement:

"Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage…particularly marriage between two passionate females."

Payback's a b!tch, eh?

But it did get me thinking about image files and hotlinking, partly because I lost one of my hotlinked images last night when the site in question got redesigned. In my defence, the only times I've ever hotlinked to an image is when I've been linking to the page that the image was on. So I never really thought that was a problem. But I also didn't think about the fact that every time someone loaded any of my pages with that picture, I was using up someone else's bandwidth with no guarantee that the person visiting my site was going to end up visiting their site. Badly done, weirdgrrl, badly done.

Especially these days, with sites like YouTube and the zillions of photo hosting sites, there's really no excuse for hotlinking. So I'm going to gradually go back through three years worth of posts and find every hotlinked image and host them on my own server. And then I'm going to type 100 lines of:

I will never hotlink again
I will never hotlink again
I will never hotlink again
…

Labels: blogging, politics

There's a new political site called No More Incumbents. They've asked bloggers to participate in a survey about their views on incumbents. Even though it's an American site, they're interested in views from people worldwide. So I sent in my answers and they posted them here: Cara's Canadian Perspective on Incumbents - Take Our PM, Please! (I LOVE the title they assigned me!)

Labels: politics

A couple of articles on Boing Boing started me musing, once again, on the ridiculous abuse of copyright. (Remember "Apathy Reigns Triumphant" and "Tunes on TV"?)

First article: Vancouver Olympics will own words like "winter," "2010" and "Vancouver"

"Canadian Industry Minister Maxime Bernier recently introduced Bill C-47, the Olympic and Paralympic Marks Act, through which the Vancouver Olympics are guaranteed exclusive public use of the following words: winter, gold, silver, bronze, sponsor, Vancouver, Whistler, 2010, tenth, medals, and games..."

Um... huh? Since when can you grant someone the right to govern the use of generic words like "winter"?

Second article: Dear CSPAN: you're not Disney, Congress isn't Mickey

"Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi posted a minute of video of herself testifying on her blog. C-SPAN sent her a take down notice and she caved in complied. The Speaker should have stuck to her guns and told C-SPAN to fuck off that she was asserting her fair use rights to that material..."

No shit, Sherlock. Oops, was that my outside voice?

These both reminded me of the whole Starbucks vs. HaidaBucks debacle. (At least the little guy won out that time! Check out their amusing comparison of the two companies and their even more amusing comparison of Starbucks and other common bucks .)

All of this leads me back to the common question of why common sense is so uncommon? (So trite, but so true.) I wish I had a good answer but damned if I know. I don't even have the energy for a full-scale rant on the subject, it's just too depressing. But further insight (or perhaps I should say "actual insight") on copyright issues can be found in Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large (check out his Copyright Currents section) and the Fair Use Network.

P.S. I wonder if I should now be worried about getting a takedown notice from Boing Boing or the Vancouver Olympics or Starbucks or the creators of the Rocky Horror Picture Show or anyone else that I referenced or quoted.

Labels: news, politics, rant

I finally got to catch up on the Battlestar Galactica episodes that I missed during my film workshop. (It really IS the best show on television!)

"A Day in the Life" was a good enough episode, if not one that will echo strongly in my mind. But "Dirty Hands" was a standout for me. Revisiting that golden moment when the Chief, Savio-like in his glory, paraphrased that famous gears and levers speech that resonates in my head like Shakepeare. ("Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, assume the port of Mars...")

When the young architect student was injured and the Chief started marching with a purpose, I knew we had a Norma Rae moment coming. And it was Norma Rae but better. It was Norma Rae and Mario Savio all at once as the Chief threw himself on the levers and shut down the mill... oops, I mean refinery. It was a heart swelling scene, a Proud Moment, dazlious. (Have I mentioned that my grandad was a union activist? So you see, I come by my socialist tendencies honestly.)

Much as I enjoyed both of these episodes, I want to know when we're going to revisit the burning question of who Deanna saw. What about Starbuck's destiny? And forget the big picture... what's going on with Caprica Six, wasting away in the brig with not a camera crew in sight. Is she being visited by Head Baltar? Enquiring minds want to know. God I love this show!

Labels: battlestar galactica, politics, tv

At the open mike night a couple of weeks ago, one of the artists that caught my attention was Marsha Meidow, director of the Vagina Monologues. She read one of the monologues from the show and, having never seen the show and not really knowing what to expect, it blew me away. So beautiful and yet so disturbing at the same time. Delivered in Marsha's breathy girlish voice... it was haunting.

Marsha also works with Safe Haven, a program for young girls at risk of prostitution and exploitation. So Marsha and Monologues producer, Shone Abet, decided to put on this carnival to raise money for the program. I think it's a great idea. And I wish like anything that I could be there, but I start my IN:Camera Film Production Workshop the following day, so I think I need to take care of myself and take a quiet night at home. Otherwise I would be at the Femme Fatale Carnivale in a heartbeat. There are going to be burlesque acts, fire eaters, belly dancers and all things strange and sexy (strange meant in the best possible way, of course)! Oh what crazy adult fun!

For those of you who want to go (please, please go!), it's this Valentine's Day (as in tomorrow) at The Twisted Element Nightclub, 1006 11th Ave SW. Tickets are $25 at the door and $20 in advance at Blame Betty, 829 17th Ave SW. Have fun! And don't do anything I wouldn't do...

Labels: cool stuff, fun, politics, pop culture, weird stuff

I keep having ideas about current topics that I want to blog about (such as Democratic Senator Barack Obama throwing his hat in the presidential ring, or George Dubya's insane "troop surge" plan, or the death of tabloid princess Anna Nicole Smith… okay, I don't really want to blog about that last one, but you get the idea). But I keep not getting around to writing those posts. Why? Partly because I'm really busy, partly because I feel like everyone else is already blogging about it and partly because I want to know the facts about something before I form an opinion that I'm going to be posting on the internet for all to see.

Don't get me wrong… I love research. But when life gets crazy busy, it would be nice to do a little less. I already have headlines emailed to me from my local paper and from CNN, but that hardly represents a wide variety of sources and perspectives. Which is why I end up spending so much time searching the internet in a variety of ways, looking for that new angle or some interesting aspect of a story that I moves, inspires or vexes me. Some way to write about it that would only be written by me.

So today I checked out this website called Newscribe that provides an avenue for news readers to obtain unbiased, quality news articles from multiple news streams. You can also comment on articles, read other people's comments, read reviews about articles, rate the reviews and, to top it off, you can also customize it to your tastes and needs. For example, you can click to "keep" interesting news articles for quick reference and then you'll receive recommendations based on those stories that you chose to track.

I'll have a better idea of how it all works once I've had a chance to play around with it for a while, but it seems like an intriguing idea that has a lot of potential. Whether it lives up to that potential partly depends on the people who end up using the site and the quality of their comments and reviews. So I'll definitely follow up and let you know who's using it and how it's working for me.

Labels: news, politics, pop culture

A couple of days ago, I received a pair of emails from the Alberta Liberal Party saying that there was going to be a Town Hall Meeting with The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Leader of the Opposition followed by a casual meet and greet at the James Joyce Pub.

As I mentioned in Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way, I had been hoping for Bob Rae to be leading the Liberals. Obviously, that didn't happen. But I found out that a friend of mine, who is very involved in the Liberal party, thinks Dion's win was the best possible result. Now I haven't always seen eye to eye with this friend when it comes to politics but I do respect his opinion, so I wanted to check out Dion for myself. Which is why I was actually pretty pumped to go to this thing (even though no one else I know was interested, and my cousin's reaction pretty much confirmed my theory that most people would rather play a rousing round of Russian roulette than go to a political meeting).

So I went to the theatre where the town hall meeting was supposed to be held only to be told that the meeting had been cancelled and Dion was already over at the Joyce... and that the pub was already packed. I decided to drive by the pub just to see for myself, and couldn't help but notice the swarms of people still walking over to the pub from the theatre. It was then that I realized how tired I was from my day and the idea of fighting through the crowds for the remote possibility of being able to learn more about this man as a leader... well, it just didn't seem like it would be particularly useful nor was it something I could muster the energy to do.

I would really like to know why the meeting got cancelled and if it's going to be rescheduled. I've gotta say, it's not really a great first impression.

Labels: news, politics

I was browsing through a largely fluffy series of articles at Boing Boing when I was stopped dead in my tracks by the review of "Here, Bullet," a book of poetry written by Sgt. Brian Turner, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, while he was serving in Iraq:

Here, Bullet
If a body is what you want,
then here is bone and gristle and flesh.
Here is the clavicle-snapped wish,
the aorta's opened valves, the leap
thought makes at the synaptic gap.
Here is the adrenaline rush you crave,
that inexorable flight, that insane puncture
into heat and blood. And I dare you to finish
what you've started. Because here, Bullet,
here is where I complete the word you bring
hissing through the air, here is where I moan
the barrel's cold esophagus, triggering
my tongue's explosives for the rifling I have
inside of me, each twist of the round
spun deeper, because here, Bullet,
here is where the world ends, every time.

What grabbed me was its honesty. I would have to argue with the Publishers Weekly review that claimed the verse in this book is not good, merely timely. Granted, Turner isn't Sigfried Sassoon, but then Iraq is not World War I. As Turner himself writes, "This is a language made of blood. It is made of sand, and time." So no comparisons to past war poets, please; judge these poems on their own merits, in our own time.

Labels: poetry, politics

I just found out yesterday about Bob Woodward's 2004 interview with Gerald Ford, where Ford "very strongly" disagreed with the Bush's justifications for invading Iraq. The Ford interview—and a subsequent lengthy conversation in 2005—took place for a future book project, though he said his comments could be published at any time after his death. (Read the Washington Post Article: Ford Disagreed With Bush About Invading Iraq. Way to go, Ford!) I wonder how long it will take Woodward to get the book published this time.

Labels: news, politics

I discovered this site where you can not only purchase the Iraq Study Group Report (aka "why Bush needs to concede that he got just about all of it wrong") but they have a whole bookstore devoted to information about the war in Iraq.

Now, you maybe be wondering why you should bother buying the book when you can download it in pdf form somewhere out there. Well, for one thing, if you're anything like me you don't want to sit at your computer to read 84 page document. And if you're planning on printing it out... c'mon, when the book costs less than $10, do you really want the bother of printing something that big, all that paper, all that ink. And, well, I just like books; the tangible feel and smell of them. Way better than a stack of 8 1/2" x 11" paper held together by a whopping big paperclip.

But seriously, I think the site is a good idea. By gathering together an entire bookstore related to Iraq—from carefully thought out strategies to impassioned arguments—it gives us an opportunity to find and share responsible information on this controversial topic. And the best part about the site is that it's politically neutral... unlike me... and Jon Stewart....

Labels: books and literature, bush bashing, jon stewart, politics

Unfortunately, this new Liberal day is not dawning with Bob Rae at its helm but with Stéphane Dion. Better than Ignatieff, in my opinion, but I'll admit that I don't know as much about Dion because I didn't really see him as a contender. Plus he's an old guard Liberal, so I question how much of a new direction we'll see from him. But all we can do now is wait and see (and pray a little, if that's your thing).

Actually, first I guess I need to get over my disappointment with the results. And the fact that I'm flummoxed that the members of the Liberal party couldn't see how much vitality and intelligence Rae would have brought as leader of the party. Flummoxed.

Labels: news, politics

There's a particular topic much on my mind these days that I've avoided writing about. I think it's because the outcome matters too much to me and I'm afraid to say my piece and then have it all go to hell. What am I getting so overly dramatic about? The Liberal leadership race.

There are probably those of you out there who think I'm silly to be so worked up about this, but I AM worked up about it and dammit I think you should be too. Apathy has reigned for far too long in this country's political sphere. Our country's falling apart and our international reputation is being flushed down the toilet by our current Prime Minister. Something's gotta change. ("I realized right then that it was all wrong, that it all had to change, and that change had to start with me." ~ Utah Phillips, Korea, The Past Didn't Go Anywhere)

If Bob Rae does not win the leadership, I don't know what hope this country has. There, I've said it. And I'm not the only one saying it...

Rae our choice to lead Liberals
November 29, 2006 | Toronto Star Editorial

"In our view, Bob Rae stands out as the best choice to lead the Liberals because of his vision, progressive policies and experience. From the outset of the race, Rae rightly projected a vision of the country that started with the premise, as he says, that "prosperity matters, wealth creation matters." But he adds, with equal conviction, that "sharing opportunity" matters "because it is right. But also because it creates more prosperity and better social cohesion." On this, Rae is truly passionate. …in the Star's view, Rae is the person who should lead a revitalized Liberal team into the next election. He offers the best prospect of renewing the party, moving it boldly forward in a socially progressive direction and giving Canadians the government they deserve."

Bob Rae is our best chance to defeat Stephen Harper's Conservatives. I even joined the Liberal party to support this man! I couldn't bear it if he doesn't win. This man is a born leader, please let him lead this party... and this country. Please.

Labels: news, politics, rant

Iraq Now Longer Than WWII
November 29, 2006 | Volume 42 • 48

OPINION—"The Iraq war may last longer, but I guarantee you that both wars will end the same way: with the complete destruction of the Japanese."
— Helen Wright, Meat Packer

More American Voices at The Onion»

Labels: humour, politics

This article was in with my CNN headlines recently and I found it very interesting, about fear, risk and habituation:

How Americans are Living Dangerously
By Jeffrey Kluger
Excerpts of a Summary of this week's Time magazine cover story: "Why We Worry About the Wrong Things"

It would be a lot easier to enjoy your life if there weren't so many things trying to kill you every day.

The problems start even before you're fully awake. There's the fall out of bed that kills 600 Americans each year. There's the early-morning heart attack, which is 40 percent more common than those that strike later in the day. There's the fatal plunge down the stairs, the bite of sausage that gets lodged in your throat, the tumble on the slippery sidewalk as you leave the house, the high-speed automotive pinball game that is your daily commute.

Shadowed by peril as we are, you would think we'd get pretty good at distinguishing the risks likeliest to do us in from the ones that are statistical long shots. But you would be wrong... We wring our hands over the mad cow pathogen that might be (but almost certainly isn't) in our hamburger and worry far less about the cholesterol that contributes to the heart disease that kills 700,000 of us annually.

We pride ourselves on being the only species that understands the concept of risk, yet we have a confounding habit of worrying about mere possibilities while ignoring probabilities, building barricades against perceived dangers while leaving ourselves exposed to real ones...

...Unfamiliar threats are similarly scarier than familiar ones. The next E. coli outbreak is unlikely to shake you up as much as the previous one, and any that follow will trouble you even less. In some respects, this is a good thing, particularly if the initial reaction was excessive. But it's also unavoidable given our tendency to habituate to any unpleasant stimulus.

The problem with habituation is that it can also lead us to go to the other extreme, worrying not too much but too little. September 11 and Hurricane Katrina brought calls to build impregnable walls against such tragedies ever occurring again. But despite the vows, both New Orleans and the nation's security apparatus remain dangerously leaky.

"People call these crises wake-up calls," says Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness. "But they're more like snooze alarms. We get agitated for a while, and then we don't follow through."

For the rest of the CNN summary, click here.

For the full cover story from Time magazine, click here.

Labels: news, politics

CNN Renews "This Week At War" For Next 8 Seasons
November 22, 2006 | Volume 42 • 47

ATLANTA—CNN officials announced that they will be carrying the popular news show This Week At War through the 2014 season. "We're confident that we'll have at least eight full seasons worth of material for this property," said CNN President Jonathan Klein during the dedication of the new 11-story TWAW news headquarters in Kuwait City. "And believe me, we're going to be going in some surprising new directions. A premise like this can go on for a generation." In addition to TWAW's extended renewal, CNN is retooling existing news shows to give them a more martial focus, most notably The Situation And War Room, and Lou Dobbs Tonight In The Middle Of A Pitched Street Battle Between Sunni And Shiite Extremists.

For more irreverent misinformation, check out The Onion.

Labels: humour, politics

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show on the results of the midterm election:

"The Democrats are feeling something that they haven't felt in quite some time, I believe the emotion is — and I don't know if I'll be able to pronounce this — 'hope'."

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics

Jon's demonstration of the connection between Iraq and the War on Terror:

"Let's pretend this plug is 'Iraq' and you're trying to connect it to the 'war on terror,' which is this avocado. You can do it... but here's the problem: THE AVOCADO STILL DOESN'T TURN ON. And now your plug is covered in guacamole."

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics

Something must be amiss in the natural order of things today, because I find myself supporting Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his actions at this week's Francophonie summit.

Harper blocks Lebanon resolution
Calgary Herald | September 29, 2006

Canada’s rookie prime minister vetoed an amendment that said the 53-member organization "deplored" the effect of the month-long conflict on the Lebanese civilians it endangered. The amendment, which didn't mention Israeli civilians, was brought forward by the Egyptian delegation and backed by "a majority" of countries at the table, according to French President Jacques Chirac.

Harper said he couldn't support the amendment because it didn't recognize that losses were suffered by civilians on both sides.

"The amendment wants to recognize and deplore the war and recognize the victims of Lebanon. We are able to deplore the war, we are able to recognize the victims, but on both sides," Harper said at a news conference.

"The Francophonie cannot recognize victims according to their nationality. Recognize the victims of Lebanon and the victims of Israel."
...

I must confess I never expected that level of enlightenment from that man. But don't worry, I'm not holding my breath for a repeat experience. I know that even a broken clock is right once a day (twice if it's analog). So the law of averages says he's gottta get it right once in a while... once in a very long while (though that doesn't seem to apply to George Dubya... but that's another kettle of rotting fish).

Labels: news, politics

My CNN email headlines this morning included this one...

Bush: I'd rather be right than popular

Someone should tell him that sort of line only works if you're actually right. And did you notice that he's not actually bold enough to use the Henry Clay line: "I'd rather be right than be president." Pity.

Labels: bush bashing, politics

I finally got around to watching the season two finale for Battlestar Galactica (why it took me so long to watch the season finale to my favourite show is a long and boring story... and by the way, for any Americans who might be reading this, the finale was only aired here in Canada about a month ago. So I'm not THAT late in watching it).

While watching the part where Chief Tyrol gives his union speech, I thought it seemed somewhat familiar. When he got to the "gears and levers" bit, I realized why. The Chief's speech was paraphrased from the speech given by Mario Savio on the steps of Sproul Hall in 1964 as part of Berkeley's Free Speech Movement. Compare:

Chief Tyrol: "There comes a time when you realize that the engine you built with your blood and your sweat and your tears is being used for something so foul, so perverted, it makes you sick in your heart. And it's then that you must throw your body on the gears, and on the levers, and on the machine itself and make it stop! And you have to show the people who run it, the people who control it, that unless we're free that machine will be prevented from working at all!"

Mario Savio: "There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies on the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"

Now I hope you don't see this as Battlestar Galactica ripping off Mario Savio. I think Mario Savio was an incredible man and see this as more of an homage. And I think it's amazingly cool that a BSG writer would be familiar with the Savio speech, identify the perfect context in which to use it and reword it in the Chief's unique voice. Bravo!

P.S. I did a little research and found out that BSG actually got permission from Savio's family to use the speech. Maybe this sounds a little corny (or Klingon-ish), but it kinda makes me proud that they acted with such honour.

P.P.S. Allow me to highly recommend the documentary "Berkeley in the Sixties" by Mark Kitchell. That film is what made me fall in love with Mario Savio in the first place.

Update May 1, 2007: I've just embedded a video of Mario Savio's speech in a new post: Watch Mario Savio's Gears & Levers Speech.

Update May 16, 2007: I've just embedded video of Chief Tyrol's speech in a new post: Watch BSG's Gears & Levers Speech.

Labels: battlestar galactica, film, politics, pop culture, tv

After a day of dealing with petty bureaucrats, I was reminded a "Two Cows" joke... to be specific, a pair of parodies:

PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everybody else's cows. You have to take care of all the cows. the government gives you as much milk as you need.

BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM: You have two cows. the government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. After you fill out the appropriate forms in triplicate, the government gives you all the eggs and milk that regulations say you SHOULD need (which typically bears little resemblance to actual need).

Labels: humour, politics

When George W. Bush was asked to use the word "diplomacy" in a sentence:

"Y'know Yale? That's where I got my diploma, see?"

Labels: bush bashing, humour, politics

Jon Stewart on the Arctic ice cap:

"There is near-universal consensus the melting is due in part to global warming, but the Bush administration counters that the ice caps are not melting — rather, the water has been liberated."

Labels: bush bashing, humour, jon stewart, politics, tv

Bush's Approval Rating Of Other Americans Also At All-Time Low
September 28, 2005 | Issue 41•39

WASHINGTON, DC—Shortly after President Bush's job-approval rating dipped to 40 percent, the lowest of his presidency, a poll indicated that Bush's approval rating for American citizens is also at an all-time low. "At 30 percent, President Bush's satisfaction with 'likely voters' is the lowest it's ever been," said Rachel Markham of TNS Intersearch. While Bush finds that 40 percent of Americans are "on the right track," he said he believes only 30 percent will do a good job supporting him in the event of another disaster or terrorist attack.

For more irreverent misinformation, check out The Onion.

Labels: bush bashing, humour, politics

Finally putting together the posts where I talk about politics (I'm not sure how broad a definition of politics I'll be using... I guess I'll find out once I see which posts I put below):

A New Day Dawns (12.03.2006)
Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way (11.29.2006)
Anyone Want Extra Onions? (11.29.2006)
The Years of Living Dangerously (11.27.2006)
The Onion: News in Brief (11.24.2006)
Daily Quote (11.13.2006)
Jon Stewart... Life Support for My Blog (10.10.2006)
Did Hell Just Freeze Over? (9.30.2006)
What exactly do you mean by "Right"? (7.07.2006) — Bush bashing
The Gears & The Levers (7.02.2006) — cross-referenced under Pop Culture because of Battlestar Galactica, but I think the Mario Savio reference means it belongs here, too
Bureaucrap (3.24.2006)
Diplomacy (1.17.2006) — Bush bashing
"Daily" Quote (10.10.2005) — Bush bashing
More From The Onion (9.28.2005) — Bush bashing
The Onion: News in Brief (9.16.2005)
First Hand Account From New Orleans (9.13.2005)
"Daily" Quote (9.12.2005)
God Outdoes Terrorists Yet Again (9.07.2005)
A Few Not-So-Random Thoughts... (9.01.2005)
The Onion: News in Brief (8.15.2005)
Telus Idol Video (8.12.2005)
Leave It To Bush! (8.09.2005)
"Daily" Quote (8.08.2005)
Liberals Killed the Conservative Star (6.12.2005)
That 70's Source (6.02.2005)
Separated at Birth (5.22.2005) — Bush bashing
Ideologies Clashing (5.20.2005)
Comedy Central's Joke of the Day (4.15.2005) — Bush bashing
Anarchy (2.20.2005)
The Bush Show (1.13.2005)
A Daily Dose of The Daily Show (12.03.2004)
Almost Forgot... (11.23.2004) — "Kleinfeld"
Yet Another Election (11.20.2004)
Here Be Dragons (11.19.2004)
Post-Election Blog Post (11.04.2004)
On Tenterhooks (aka Elections Suck) (11.03.2004)
The Onion: News in Brief (10.22.2004)
Political Compass (10.18.2004)
Random Snippets (10.13.2004)
War Corporatism (10.06.2004)
Apropos of Nothing (9.30.2004) — Churchillian anecdotes
Political Parody (8.31.2004)
I'm baaack (5.06.2004)

Labels: politics

Halliburton Gets Contract To Pry Gold Fillings From New Orleans Corpses' Teeth
HOUSTON—On Tuesday, Halliburton received a $110 million no-bid government contract to pry the gold fillings from the mouths of deceased disaster victims in the New Orleans-Gulf Coast area. "We are proud to serve the government in this time of crisis by recovering valuable resources from the wreckage of this deadly storm," said David J. Lesar, Halliburton's president. "The gold we recover from the human rubble of Katrina can be used to make fighter-jet electronics, supercomputer chips, inflation-proof A-grade investments, and luxury yachting watches."

For more irreverent misinformation, check out The Onion.

For anyone out there who's thinking that my Katrina humour is in bad taste, check out this CNN article: Have you heard the one about Katrina? Aftermath of storm fuels jokes — mainly aimed at government.

Labels: humour, politics

I just received this in an email from Athena Reich. It's very compelling and I HIGHLY recommend reading it. (I was tempted to post the whole thing here, but it's very long.):

Hurricane Katrina — Our Experiences By Paramedics Larry Bradshaw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky

I also recommend reading Michael Moore's Open Letter: Here's How You Can Make an Immediate Difference in Louisiana.

Labels: news, politics

Jon Stewart on the evacuation of New Orleans:

"You can't just rush in there. The federal government can't just usurp the power of the states — unless New Orleans is in some type of persistent vegetative state..."

Labels: humour, jon stewart, politics, tv

For anyone looking for some black humour in the Katrina situation, I highly recommend heading over to The Onion this week and checking out their special feature: Disaster in the Delta.

Headlines include:
"Louisiana National Guard Offers Help By Phone From Iraq"
"Refugees Moved From Sewage-Contaminated Superdome To Hellhole Of Houston" &
"White Foragers Report Threat Of Black Looters"

Remember, sometimes you've gotta laugh to keep from crying.

Labels: humour, politics

"In this great future, you can't forget your past." [Bob Marley, lyrics to "No Woman, No Cry," 1974]

"We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers. Our abundance has brought us neither peace of mind nor serenity of spirit." [Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963]

"Racism is so universal in this country, so widespread and deep-seated, that it is invisible because it is so normal." [Shirley Chisholm, 1970]

"To those who believe the battle against discrimination has been won, I say, look at the realities of paychecks and power." [Linda Chavez-Thompson, 1997]

"After years of enduring America at home and watching her abroad, I am convinced that I will die in a society as racially divided as the one into which I was born more than a half century ago. This no longer appears to concern white Americans." [Randall Robinson, 1998]

"That until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned; That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained." [Haile Selassie, 1963; popularised in Bob Marley's song "War."]

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." [attributed to Edmund Burke, c.1770]

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope... and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." [Robert F. Kennedy, 1966]

"To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing." [Elbert Hubbard, 1911]

"Will we march only to the music of time? Or will we — risking criticism and abuse — march to the soul-saving music of eternity?" [Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963]

Labels: politics

For everyone who's ending up here looking for the "Telus Idol" video that has been quietly removed from most websites, you can find a torrent of this file at Pirate Bay. If you're not familiar with this type of file sharing system, first download and install a BitTorrent client such as BitLord. Then click on "download this torrent." It's a pretty big file so it will take a while, but you'll end up with your standard .mpg file that will play normally on whatever software you usually use. (For more info on torrents, check out this Wikipedia article or the Introduction at BitTorrent.com, the original BitTorrent client.)

I've only watched the first part of the video but, in my opinion, it just looks like a lot of men and women embarrassing themselves. I don't really see how it has anything to do with the Telus strike or the ensuing scandal of Telus blocking the union's website (some interesting comments about that on this blog: Telus Plays Some Dirty, Dirty Pool). Maybe I need to watch the video all the way through to make that connection, or maybe people are just reacting to the inappropriate — but sadly normal — way that some people act at corporate retreats. I have a feeling it's simply the latter and that the furor about this video is really about some managers behaving badly in a way that is completely unrelated to the strike (and in no way unique to Telus). A feeling that's partly confirmed by reading The Video that Outrages Telus Employees.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending Telus (or the behaviour in the video) in any way, shape or form. My sympathies tend to fall on the union side of things. (Admitting that makes me feel somewhat hypocritical since Telus is my service provider and I have yet to consider switching. Call it the head-in-the-sand attitude, if you like.) But I think that people should stick with the real issues and not make a mountains out of mole hills. As to whether this video is a mountain or a mole hill, I'm leaning towards the latter but I'll weigh in properly once I've finished watching the damn thing.

Labels: news, politics

Episode 3 of the "Leave It To Bush!" flash animation series is now available at The Toilet Online. But my favourite is definitely Espisode 2 with Bill Cosby... too funny!

Episode 1 – An Afternoon In The Park: Hopelessly confused moron chats it up with Gary Busey and two very special friends. Featuring the musical stylings of Bearsuit.

Episode 2 – Snortin’ Coke On The Moon: Deranged simpleton discusses a very personal relationship with his dear friend Bill Cosby on the Moon. Featuring a song by The Go! Team.

Episode 3 — Strangers On A Train: The fates of George W. Bush and Samuel L. Jackson collide head-first on a train bound for destiny. Featuring music by Of Montreal.