the polls have closed!

The ballots will now be counted! Thanks to everyone who voted in prairie dog's 2009 Best Of Regina poll--results will be published in the April 23 issue.

Only 19 minutes left to vote for the Best Of Regina!

Hurry! $500 Cornwall Centre gift certificate at stake! E-mail for ballot: bestof@prairiedogmag.com.

Stephen Harper salutes a Traitor to Canada

1. Owen Hargreaves (right) once lived in Harper's riding.

2. Owen Hargreaves (Wikipedia) was born in Canada to an English mother and Welsh father, so under FIFA rules he had the option of playing international soccer for one of those three countries. He chose England.

2. Stephen Harper doesn't care about Canadian soccer. I wonder when Harper will salute Brett Hull for his contributions to Canadian hockey?

What the heck. If his government can give the Byfields money to run a western separatist magazine, it's obvious that Harper doesn't care about anything that makes Canadian so ... well, Canadian.

Check out what the potential Canadian voting public has to say on one of the best blogs on Canadian soccer, The 24th Minute.

The dangers of leaving your democracy to others

Just got an early report on Best Of Regina voting trends--apparently, one of the leading contenders for the city's best building is...

Victoria Square Mall!

So, no Sask. Power building. No twin towers. No First Nations University. No Hotel Sask. No Legislature, no library, no, whatever that wacky neo-socialist apartment building is called on Broadway, no heritage architecture in the Warehouse District.

No, one of the leading vote-getters is...a shopping mall. (Nothing against the Victoria Square Mall, of course.)

You have just over three hours left to vote. E-mail bestof@prairiedogmag.com for a digital ballot.

RFF Lineup

The Regina Folk Festival was announced in today's Leader-Post. Performers will include:

Iron and Wine
K-os
Corb Lund
The Wailers
Bedouin Soundclash
Connie Kaldor
Loudon Wainwright
Socalled
Plants and Animals
Chic Gamine
Pacifika
Daby Toure
Delhi to Dublin
Chad Vangaalen
Basia Bulat
Lal
Mark Berbe and the Patriotic Few
Ghost Bees
Royal Wood
Deep Dark Woods
Andy Shauf
No Luck Club
Meredith Jordan
Good Lovelies
Folle Avoine
The Fabulous Son

Some of these aren't huge surprises – Winnipeg Folk Festival bagged and announced Loudon, Iron and Wine, and Socalled as well, and Connie Caldor has been listed on Pollstar for months. Royal Wood and Plants and Animals have both toured through Regina recently and done well. And Saskatchewan boys like Deep Dark Woods and Andy Shauf are great and logical additions to the bill. Overall, a not-bad lineup.

Flush twice, Stephen ...

Your followers back in Ottawa need the Kool-Aid. (The Guardian)

The nuclear blackout

When you read the comments on the CBC story, you know the Sask Party trolls got their talking points for the day from KKKate at smalldeadanimals or something or other. It's all the NDP's fault, and the gomer who blacked out the documents on the nuclear debate was a secret agent of the Lingenfelter and the NDP.

Give me an effin' break.

People who work in a conservative government bureaucracy do NOT do anything -- right down to bowel movements -- without getting their political masters' permission. This isn't the Tommy Douglas civil service, who were expected to come up with innovative programs and ideas. You work for us, bucko. You do what we say you should do. And if you don't like it, there's the effin' door. Don't let your socialist butt hit it on the way out -- don't damage government property.

These Are The People In Your Neighbourhood

The Stranger is an alternative weekly based in Seattle. It's owned by co-founders of The Onion, "Editorially Directed" by a pottymouthed sex advice columnist (who supported the Iraq war) and written by alcoholics, convicted shoplifters and some really talented people. In this week's Stranger there's an article by Lindy West that lists many of The Different Kinds Of People That There Are .

A sample:

People Who Don't Believe in Evolution but Love Antibiotics Seriously? Either you believe in science or you don't. If you want to say sentences to me like "God made the earth 29 years ago out of Billy Graham's stool" or "Every time you take the morning-after pill, Satan has two orgasms," then go ahead and stay away from Dr. Syringey O'Medicine, MD, from here on out. Because you know that pill that made your strep throat go away? Science invented that. For you. Hey, why don't you just pray for God to take care of that root canal? I'll tell you why: Because God didn't go to dental school, because dental schools don't admit people who DON'T EXIST.

It goes on, and on, and on. Full article here.

EDIT: I'm pretty sure The Stranger's staff aren't actually alcoholics.

BEST OF REGINA: LAST CHANCE TO VOTE

See above. Deadline is five p.m. today. Visit our office on the Scarth St. pedestrian mall (also known as the Frederick W. Hill mall, AKA teh awesomez street mall, yo) and drop off your ballot. You may have a chocolate easter egg from our reception desk! Or e-mail bestof@prairiedogmag.com for a handy digital ballot. No candy that way, chocolate can't be e-mailed. Yet.

As mentioned yesterday, one lucky Best Of Regina voter will win A $500 CORNWALL CENTRE GIFT CERTIFICATE!!! ka-CHING!