Six in the Morning

1. CANWEST GETS PROTECTION FOR POST AND GLOBAL: A judge has granted Canwest protection for the Global and National Post portions of its media empire as the company struggles to restructure its $3.9 billion debt. (CBC)

2. SPAMMERS TRY TO WATERDOWN ANTI-SPAM LAW: Lobbyists for on-line marketers -- the spam lobby, that is -- are urging Ottawa to include loopholes in their tough anti-spam laws that're working their way to the House of Commons. How're they doing this? I'm guessing lots and lots of emails and phonecalls to MPs. (Globe and Mail)

3. SASKPOWER TO HIKE RATES: SaskPower warns it'll have to hike rates in order to pay for new capacity to cope with Saskatchewan's growing population, and because they have to work to curb carbon emissions, and because they have to replace a lot of aging infrastructure. When can we expect the hikes? At some point over the next 20 years. Thanks for the heads up, guys. I'll put it in my calendar. Oh, and don't think for one second this announcement has anything to do with warming us up to the idea of building a nuclear reactor in the province. I'm sure that has nothing to do with it. (Leader Post)

4. HUGE DINO PRINTS FOUND IN FRANCE: Paleontologists in eastern France report they've uncovered some of the largest sauropod prints ever. (Globe and Mail)

5. U.S. TO DERAIL CLIMATE TALKS: The US is threatening to derail climate change talks in Copenhagen (Phew! Saves Canada the trouble) because it (the US) doesn't want the Kyoto Protocol targets included in the new agreement. China is not pleased. This bickering goes on as big corporations like Apple are pulling out of the US Chamber of Commerce in protest of that organization's lobbying to undermine climate legislation in the States. (Guardian)

6. UPPER CLASS TWIT: Today's the day Christopher Walter, the Viscount of Monkton, presents his screed against science, Apocalypse Cancelled, at the University of Regina. Now, I could go off on a profanity-fueled rage about how every single thing the man has to say on the subject of climate change is likely fraudulent (check this link out too). Or I could note that, yes, he was an advisor to Margaret Thatcher but not, as far as I can tell, a science advisor despite what the organizers of this lecture claim because, you see, he isn't a scientist -- he's a part time "journalist" which means he's about as qualified to speak on the subject as I am (meaning: he isn't), the only difference being, I won't charge you $60 to listen to my incoherent babbling. Or I could demonstrate what a pathetic little toad he is by writing about his attempts to pass himself off as a member of the British House of Lords (he isn't) and as a winner of the Nobel Prize (he didn't). Or I could relate an amusing anecdote about the Viscount in which he invents and markets a puzzle so complex (he claims) that he offers a million pounds to the person who can solve it....... which an unemployed mathematician does just over a year after the puzzle is released and then the Viscount can't pay out the prize money. Or I could mention that he's written that all AIDS sufferers should be quarantined. I could do all those things. Or I could just direct your attention to the photo of the Viscount that accompanies this item and then to this Monty Python sketch and leave it at that....

Pick of the Day: Apocalypse Cancelled

I alluded to this talk in my Pick of the Day post for Sept. 22. The guy's actual name is Lord Christopher Monckton. In his publicity photo, he looks like the classic British upper-class twit, complete with pursed lips and tweedy aura. He's one of the world's leading climate change deniers who skilfully uses the language of science and pseudo-facts gathered from here and there to advance his cause. Here's a site that debunks his "arguments" (Deltoid)

At our story meeting Sept. 23, the idea of "pieing" him was actually floated. That's not really our style. It's probably not yours either. But hopefully members of Regina's green community will make their presence felt at his talk (which is being held today at the Delta Hotel at 11:45 a.m.). Heck, kill two birds with one stone (if you'll pardon the environmentally unfriendly analogy) and send the sponsor the Frontier Centre for Public Policy a message too.

Alternately, Monckton is scheduled to debate University of Regina Poli-Sci professor Jeremy Rayner at the Recital Hall (Rm. 214), College Ave. Campus, between 2-3:30 p.m.

Perverse Morality?

Valerie Scott, one of the women mentioned in the linked CBC news story about sex trade workers challenging Criminal Code provisions related to keeping a common bawdy house and living off the avails of prostitution that imperil their safety has family roots in Regina. When she was home for a visit last summer, I interviewed her for a story that ran in prairie dog. As with the debate over marijuana, where prohibitionists condemn the violence and illicit profits that the drug trade engenders, the bottom-line is that the reason those problems occur in the first place is because weed and other soft recreational drugs are illegal.

When I spoke with Scott she made a compelling case that, regardless of one's personal feelings about prostitution and the overall commercialization of sex, the current situation is untenable as all it does is put women (and men) who work in the trade at the mercy of psychopaths like Robert Pickton and John Crawford.

Scott is executive director of the Sex Professionals of Canada (SPOC). When I spoke with her last June, the legal action was in the works, and she fully expected the fight would land them eventually in the Supreme Court of Canada. Here's hoping she and her colleagues win their fight.

31 Days of Horror: Doctor X

Every so often I run across someone who think that movies were really tame in the old days and that movies only became gruesome and violent in more recent years. They clearly haven't watched enough movies. From mayhem to murder, from cannibalism to rape, this movie has it all. This classic Pre-Code movie (from 1929-1934 movies were pretty much unrated until the big crack down in 1934) was also shot in 2 strip Technicolor, making it one of the earliest colour movies.

The Moon Killer attacks on every full moon. Six women have been found so far, all of them strangled, scalpeled (a scalpel was inserted into the back of their heads) and partial eaten. Cannibalism is the name of the game and the brilliant Doctor Xavier (Lionel Atwill) is called in for his expertise and a little more. It seems that most of the murders have happened around his college and the good doctor and his colleagues have fallen under police suspicion. His colleagues include Dr. Wells (Preston Foster), an amputee who has made a study of cannibalism, Dr. Haines (John Wray), Dr. Duke (Harry Beresford) and Dr. Rowitz (Arthur Edmund Carewe). It is later learned that Haines and Rowitz were stranded in a boat with another man, and that while they claimed he had died and they had thrown him overboard, it was suspected that they had, in fact, cannibalized him. Mmmm good eating.

Meanwhile ace reporter Lee Tailor (Lee Tracy) has been snooping around and manages to sneak into Doctor Xavier's place and makes time with Xavier's daughter Fay Wray. Xavier is going to try and solve the murders by using his new invention - a truth detector that monitor's peoples heart rates so they can figure out who's lying.

The early Technicolor adds a creepy element to the film. Being only a 2 strip film - it's not like the more colourful 3 strip films that came at the end of the 1930's. The colours seem to be mostly green and red and it gives the movie a moody grim feeling. Oscar winning director Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, Captain Blood, Angels With Dirty Faces) directs this horror film with the right amount of tension. The only real draw back is the more slapsitck antics of the reporter, but they can be overlooked. Then there's the revealation of the Moon Killer. It's not just the who - it's the why - brilliant and creepy is all I can say.

Free Stuff: Chad Vangaalen Tickets

Enter to win a pair of tickets to the Chad Vangaalen show this Thursday Oct.8th at the Exchange. Castlemusic opens. Just tell us the name of Chad's record label. Send an e-mail with your answer to contests@prairiedogmag.com with "CHAD VANGAALEN" in the subject line by 4p.m. tommorrow Wednesday, Oct.7th. A random draw of all correct answers will determine the lucky winner.

Thanks once again to our good friends at the Regina Folk Festival for the tix!

Rosie LaRose’s Top six in the aftermath of Olympic fever …

1 HOT DOG, WE HAVE A WIENER … OH SNAP … The feed from CNN when Chicago was taken off the ballot. Jingoism much?

2 ON THE SIDE OF THE ANGELS … Dave Zirin (Edge of Sports) is one of a rare breed – a sportswriter with a sense of social justice. Which is why I, originally, was surprised that he didn't care for Chicago's bid for the Olympics. (The Nation). Then again, his reasons were based in experience and the impact games such as these have on the economy – benefitting the rich at the expense of the poor. But opposing Chicago's bid lumps him, on the surface, with these bunch (Huffington Post) of numbskulls (Washington Monthly) let loose in public (Talking Points Memo) … who Rachel Maddow (Crooks and Liars) and Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman (New York Times) call out.

3 JACK BAUER SAID 'SHUT UP, I'M WATCHING BEACH VOLLEYBALL …' One reason why Chicago's bid went south is because of the United States' hostility to visitors. During the review process, a Pakistani IOC official asked Obama why he should vote to hold the Olympics in a country where the athletes, coaches, officials, and fans would be treated like criminals for coming into the country. Obama couldn't give him a straight answer. (New York Times). The problems with getting into the United States – some of it in the wake of 9/11, but mostly caused by a Border Patrol mentality that's more akin to the mindset of correction officers at San Quentin – has meant there's been no major scientific conferences Stateside since that ugly day, and it also spells trouble for the U.S. bid to host the World Cup of Soccer in 2018 or 2022. (Wikipedia) It's also impacted tourism. Not that Americans care much – apart from the Grey Lady, no other media outlet has touched that issue with a ten foot pole.

4 DICK CHENEY WOULD HAVE SAID THERE WERE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION HIDDEN IN THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA'S BIKINI … Yeah, with this guy's help, what could have gone wrong with Chicago's bid? (The White House).

5 SO WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? The propensity for IOC members for self-aggrandizement (not to mention bribery) aside, it's clear that the United States – and to a lesser extent Europe – doesn't hold sway over the Olympic movement the way it once did. Rio was a pretty good compromise – it's in the all-important Eastern time zone, so most of the 2016 games can be seen during prime time. And South America has never hosted the Olympics before. There's a few other places where the Olympics have never been, either – Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Moslem world. Dubai has entered the 2020 sweepstakes (GamesBids.com), Istanbul has made a few bids (BBC), Durban, South Africa is contemplating a bid for 2020 (insidethegames.com), and Mumbai organizer of the 2012 Commonwealth Games want to do the same thing that Rio did with the 2007 Pan American Games – use it as a springboard to bigger and better things. (GamesBids.com)If I were a betting man, I wouldn't put money on a summer Olympics being held in North America within the next 30 years. So these guys (GamesBids.com) may as well give up now.

6 OBLIGATORY MONTY PYTHON VIDEOS ... In honor of the Olympics ...

and the Paralympics ....

Tuesday Morning Kitty

Who's a bad kitty? You are, yes you are. Did the bad kitty scwatch the twespassers? Yes you did. Who's a good baby, yes you are. (Globe and Mail)

Superheroes Grouped by Religion

What if superheroes teamed up according to religious affiliation? What if there was a website that figured this all out and had collages of these newly formed superteams? (By the way, did you know that Captain Canuck was a Mormon?)

Link

If Superheroes were on Facebook . . .

Link

Pick of the Day: Library Voices w/ In-Flight Safety

Rumours have been circulating that Library Voices is on the verge of something big. While touring earlier this summer, the Regina-based band endured some internal strife and parted ways with a member or two. Considering that they originally stood at 10 members, it probably didn't hurt to trim down a bit, if only to simplify the logistics of practicing and touring together.

Mid-way through a national tour that will see them travel east from here to the Maritimes by the end of October, Library Voices stop by the Exchange tonight. To whet your appetite, here's video of them doing "Step Off the Map and Float" at a fundraiser in Vancouver this spring after their gear got ripped off when their trailer was stolen. (YouTube)

Backing them up on the tour is the Halifax band In-Flight Safety. Here's the video for their song "Surround". (YouTube)