Six In The Morning

Too much going on and going down not to have one of these linkapalooza doohickeys here today. Here's a pertinent smorgesbord of stories.

1. BUDGET! Well, consensus seems to be it's a reasonable budget that doesn't take a lot of risks. The opposition NDP says the Sask Party's estimates on provincial revenue are off but I guess we'll see about that. Frankly, nothing amazing, nothing too horrifying. Unless of course you stop to consider that this provinces' economic success is entirely linked to fertilzer and fossil fuels, in which case you'd probably want to run into the streets screaming and tearing your eyes from your face because that's not any way to keep us strong, long-term. But that's a problem of the paradigm, not the budget.

The new hospital is nice.

The cash transfers to cities are great.

Waiting to hear what the art/culture crowds think of it. Still like to see culture get its own department, sorry, ministry. Being shoe-horned in with sports and tourism makes me nervous.

Probably a hell of a lot more could've been done to help the poor/unemployed/situationally fucked and to position Saskatchewan for long-term success. I'm sure an NDP budget would've been wildly different here. Hahahahahahahahaha, that's a good one.

We'll have more in next week's prairie dog. I am optimistic there will be at least some limited insight.

In the meantime, here's reports from the CBC and the Leader-Post.

2. FRANCE! In Saskatchewan, changes to labour laws are definitely making it harder to unionize and are (arguably) a blatant violation of human rights. Our take? La la la, hooray for the boom! Unions have ruined Saskatchewan long enough. La la la! In France, meanwhile, public sector workers are striking over President Sarkozy's handling of the economic crisis (let's give tax cuts to the super-rich!) and... 80 per cent of the French people support them. Huh. La la la! (Guardian)

3. GUNS! A Saskatchewan Conservative MP who fought against gun control laws will be honoured at a dinner in Mississauga, Ontario for his, cough, efforts to improve the country we all share. MP Garry Breitkreuz' dinner has a raffle prize: a Beretta handgun. Critics* say this is tasteless and reinforces the perception that gun control foes are out-of-touch assholes with a poor grip on the facts surrounding gun violence. (Toronto Star)

4. RAPIST! Austrian psycho-dad Joseph Fritzl changed his plea on the murder charge to guilty, and he's been sentenced to life in prison. He'll probably be locked up in a secure psychiatric facility, probably forever. Good. (Guardian)

5. CBC! The national broadcaster is cutting executive bonuses and "selling assets" (uh oh) to deal with advertizing shortfalls. But no commercials on the radio as had been previously discussed. Phew! (Globe And Mail)

6. DEATH PENALTY! New Mexico repeals it. (New York Times)

*me for starters.