Black Tuesday

Bush, Bush, the musical fruit
The more you eat, the more you toot!

No, that's not quite strong enough.

How about ...

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

George W.

Fuck off George. I have zero interest in abetting your desperate effort to rehabilitate your reputation and shift blame for all the current crises to the Obama administration.

There, that better sums up my disgust at knowing that tomorrow George W. Bush (arguably the most inept and demonstrably evil president in U.S. history) is flying into Calgary to give a talk at some swank $4000 a ticket reception.

According to the Globe & Mail, activists are planning to protest, and the idea's even been floated that Bush should be arrested, charged with war crimes and shipped to the Hague for prosecution. Of course, the odds of that happening in Calgary are remote. Vancouver, maybe. Or Montreal. But not Calgary. (Stampede Foundation)

One Set Of Rules For CEOs, Another For Everyone Else

Here's a great article (Salon) by author, blogger, columnist and constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald on the double standard of giving bonuses to AIG CEOs while demanding concessions from union workers. To recap: AIG paid out $165 million in executive bonues to its economy-destroying executives that it would not have been able to pay out had the United States government not bailed their bankrupt asses out with the rapidly dimishing wealth of its citizens, who must wonder how their taxes get blown on this kind of shit. AIG's excuse? "we have to pay them, it's in their contracts, it's the law, wah wah wah." (New York Times)

Greenwald points out unionized autoworkers had legal contracts too, but the U.S. goverment demanded those get changed as a condition of the bailout. He also points out that the United States has once again been implicated in torture (as recently as today, in fact), which oh by the way is against international law. (Washington Post)

As Greenwald so elegently puts it:

"Apparently, this "we are a country of law" concept means that hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money must be transferred to the AIG executives who virtually destroyed the financial system, but it does not mean that something must be done when high government officials get caught plainly breaking the law. What an oddly selective application of the "rule of law" this is."

Good, anger-making, bullshit-cutting-through stuff. In case you missed it up top, the link's here.

Six In The Morning

Our Monday morning annotated list o' links to things newsworthy/awful/entertaining:


1 NOT WORTHY The net worth of Canadian families has fallen 4.4 per cent, which is apparently the biggest drop on record. (Globe Amd Mail)

2 PSYCHO RAPIST DAD PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO MURDER Anger is not healthy and retribution doesn't solve anything; still, the fact this despicable thug faces a maximum sentence of 15 years if he's found innocent of murder is bonkers. He already pleaded guilty to incest, rape, coercion and false imprisonment. Let's put that into English: this evil shitpile of an alleged human being admits to locking his daughter in a basement for 24 years, making her his rape-toy and fathering seven children by her, six of whom are still alive--and he should be in jail forever. Ideally in a basement. With no windows. Chained to the wall. Christ, what a monster. (Guardian)
3 NO RED TAPE REQUIRED I'm really, really glad cops are able to bust Internet child pornographers, but is it really too much to ask ISP providers require a warrent to release users' personal information? (Toronto Star)

4 WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH HALIFAX BUS DRIVERS? Two recent incidents involving transit workers, one alarming (barring Muslim woman in veil from boarding a bus), one kind of funny (bus driver attacks seal hunt protestor's toy seal). (CBC Halifax)

5 I DO MY LITTLE TURN ON THE CATWALK Japanese robotmakers introduce a sorta-human-looking fashionbot that shuffles along on permanently bent knees and looks surprised when it's supposed to be smiling. It's stupid and it barely works but we all realize this is a stepping stone to the sexbot revolution, right? And people will probably be test-humping these things inside of five years if they aren't already? The CBC online article says these things could eventually work with humans and "care for the elderly and sick". Uh huh. Just checking, don't want anyone kidding themselves about inevitable our cyborg-sex future. (CBC)

6 SHAME, SHAME ON DOG BLOG This weekend we blogged about Dick Cheney, Denmark, Curling and Mars, yet we totally missed this local story about an escaped bull that ran amok in downtown Regina and attacked a pedestrian's prosthetic arm. Apologies to our legions dissappointed readers. We'll try to do better. (Leader-Post)

This Week at City Hall

Tuesday, March 17
Executive Committee (11:45 am): Big things on the housing front this week. City administration will propose a new housing incentive policy that, if approved, will substantially enhance tax-exemption incentives for rental developments. The proposed policy also recommends providing grants for secondary suites and capital grants of $10,000 per unit of new affordable housing. In light of its recommendations in this proposed policy, city administration is also recommending financial support be given to three affordable housing projects currently underway.
Works and Utilities Committee (4 pm): Considering the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant upgrade, a 30 vehicle purchase from the province, the special tax levy for alley maintenance, the 2009 traffic signal installation program and much more.
Development Appeals Board Hearing (5:30 pm)

Wednesday, March 18
Parks and Community Services Committee (4 pm): Reviewing city administration’s recommendation to provide funding for 16 groups under the Community Capital Partnership Program. Also considering the administration's funding recommendation for another 16 groups under the 2009 Festival Funding Program. Of particular note, New Dance Horizons is slated to receive a special, one-time grant of $12,500 to resurrect the Fire & Ice Carnival for 2010.

Thursday, March 19
Regina Arts Commission (7 pm): Considering their 2008 annual report.

You can attend and present at any of these meetings. Full agendas and the reports under consideration can be found on the city's website.