Six In The Morning

1 BUDGET DAY As I'm typing this, Regina is presenting its budget. There's going to be some spending, reportedly. Curious to see what we're looking at here. Hopefully more later. (Leader-Post)

2 LET'S AT LEAST CONSIDER IT Saskatchewan politicians unanimously agree to ponder nuclear possibilities. But is it all an astute Sask-Party plot to set the NDP's pro-nuclear and anti-nuclear factions at each other's throats? (CBC)

3 OFF WITH HIS HEAD You know, if the world wasn't so goddamn dependent on oil maybe we wouldn't have to put up with medieval bullshit from economically over-inflated little backwaters like Saudi Arabia, whose courts have upheld the death sentence (bad enough) by, um, BEHEADING, of a Canadian convicted of murder.

[EDIT] And not just any beheading but a PUBLIC beheading. [END EDIT]

News-followers may recall this is the same Saudi Arabia that recently sentenced a senior citizen to be flogged. Can we please, PLEASE, pour piles of money into alternative energy sources? Like we should've been doing for at least the last half-century? The world shouldn't be propping up Saudi Arabia. (Toronto Star, Guardian)

4 BOOZE LAW CHANGES Sask Party gov't unveils plan to 1.) allow restaurant customers to take their re-corked wine home 2.) to allow wine-kit stores to brew booze on the premises and 3.)grant licenses enabling the home delivery of alcohol. Here's my non-expert, off-the-top-of-my-head take: 1.) Excellent! 2.) Excellent, I think 3.) Are you guys out of your minds??? I'm willing to have opinion adjusted by smarter people, here. (Leader-Post)

5 LANDLORDS MAD AT CITY Landlords mad. City mad. Systemic problems of poverty, drug addiction, food security, hopelessness, crime and etc make people sad--and they need to be addressed to break the cycle of property destruction that fuels the antagonism between renters and inspectors, says one guy who used to be on City Council. Methinks guy is onto something here. (Leader-Post)

6 IOWA IS MORE PROGRESSIVE ON GAY RIGHTS THAN CALIFORNIA It's true. And you know why? Because Iowans are just plain, good people. I mean, who doesn't love this guy? (Wall Street Journal, IMDB)

UPDATE: Edited to add the adjective "public" to beheading. Designer Alex says that's an important point and I shouldn't leave it out.