I'm sitting at my desk not working and waiting for one of two things--either a call from prairie dog City Hall and video game reporter Paul Dechene to get together for a late breakfast "meeting" (i.e. thinly-justified excuse to skip out of work and eat food) or at least the Six In The Morning news post he's supposed to do today.
(tap, tap, tap, tap...)
Breakfast is probably out because freelance writers don't like leaving their homes in the middle of winter (why was it snowing this morning?). And I guess this procrastinating editor will just have to be patient and take that 6ITM post when it's ready.
So in the meantime I'll just be sitting here reading this horrible, horrible column by Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald on the Obama (not Bush!) administration's suppression of evidence of the extreme torture inflicted on former Guantanamo prisoner Binyam Mohammed. Yeah, just when you think it's bad some jerk working in the news media has to go and type the phrase "genital slicing".
5.13.2009
5.12.2009
ZOMBIE-ANTS!
Awesome news. Turns out there is a chance armageddon won't be environment or war related. Researchers from the University of Texas have discovered a tiny phorid fly that may be about as bad, pending some massive genetic mutations. The files "dive-bomb" the fire ants and place their eggs inside the unsuspecting bugs. The maggot that hatches inside the ant eats away the ant's brain, and the ant starts exhibiting zombie-like behavior. Eventually their heads fall off, and die. It's just a matter of time for the movie, "Attack of the Zombie-Ants" with Richard Grieco, Erika Eleniak and Gary Busey.
Big Game Tonight
Having cut a swath through the American League Central and West Divisions, the East-leading Toronto Blue Jays host division rival New York Yankees tonight at Rogers Centre. Taking the mound for the Jays is Roy Halliday (6-1). He'll be opposed by Jays' turncoat A.J. Burnett (2-0). July 3, the two teams hook up in New York for the first of a four-game set at new Yankee Stadium. Wonder which blue-bloods will be in the stands that night? (The Onion)
Bigoted Beauty Recieved Message From God
Ouch. It's been a rough month for Carrie Prejean, the Miss California winner who lost the 2009 Miss USA pageant after saying she thought marriage should be exclusively between a man and a woman.
Here's a recap of what happened, in the likely event no one reading this watched or cares about Miss USA.
Close to the end of the competition, Prejean was asked by a judge whether all American states should legalize gay marriage. After saying (incorrectly) that Americans could choose same sex or opposite sex marriage (they actually can't in most states but I digress), she said:
"And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."
Here's a YooToob clip:
Prejean didn't become Miss America that night (she was first runner-up). She later said her anti- gay marriage remark cost her the crown. Well, ya think?
More entertaining however was the in-retrospect-not-surprising photos that "emerged" of Prejean modelling topless. Those pics, the release of which a reasonable person would assume were payback for Prejean's, one might say, bigoted and idiotic views, launched a controversy around whether she would hang onto the Miss California crown.
(Of course it's stupid that to a lot of people tasteful and tame semi-nude pics of a model are controversial while a model's bigotry and ignorance toward gays and lesbians aren't, but this is happening in America. We can't expect things to make sense.)
Here's the LA Times story on Prejean's pageant loss and the subsequent scandals over the photos.
Annnnnnnyway, after dangling in the wind for a few weeks, Prejean has learned she'll be keeping her crown as Miss Kali. And I guess she's just so excited she had to spread the word. So Prejean, and her now-unbared boobies, scampered over to James Dobson, head honcho of the conservative Christian organization Focus On The Family (FOTF) to talk about her experience.
Naturally, the right-wing radio host is championing Prejean as some kind of she-bin-dun-wrong victim of free speech suppression (it's always Christians who are being oppressed; the oppression where gay people are told they can't marry doesn't count) .
But what's interesting about the Dobson interview, which you can listen to here, is the creepy bit about how Prejean thought Satan was speaking to her through the pageant judge who asked her the gay marriage question.
A quote, transcribed by Dan Gilgoff on his US News And World Report blog, God And Country: "I felt as though Satan was trying to tempt me in asking me this question. And then God was in my head and in my heart saying, "Do not compromise this."
Full article here.
The bottom line: Prejean might not be a bigot, after all. She thinks she recieved spiritual transmissions during a beauty pageant? I'm going to go out on a limb and say maybe she's just psychotic.
Christianity. Sometimes it's tough to be a fan.
UPDATE: Miss USA judge Perez Hilton, who asked Prejean the question, says God told him to (LA Times).
UPDATE 2: The Miss California organization apparently bought Carrie Prejean breast implants before the Miss USA contest. Why do I get the feeling that absolutely everybody associated with these pageants is going to go to hell when they die? (LA Times)
Here's a recap of what happened, in the likely event no one reading this watched or cares about Miss USA.
Close to the end of the competition, Prejean was asked by a judge whether all American states should legalize gay marriage. After saying (incorrectly) that Americans could choose same sex or opposite sex marriage (they actually can't in most states but I digress), she said:
"And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."
Here's a YooToob clip:
Prejean didn't become Miss America that night (she was first runner-up). She later said her anti- gay marriage remark cost her the crown. Well, ya think?
More entertaining however was the in-retrospect-not-surprising photos that "emerged" of Prejean modelling topless. Those pics, the release of which a reasonable person would assume were payback for Prejean's, one might say, bigoted and idiotic views, launched a controversy around whether she would hang onto the Miss California crown.
(Of course it's stupid that to a lot of people tasteful and tame semi-nude pics of a model are controversial while a model's bigotry and ignorance toward gays and lesbians aren't, but this is happening in America. We can't expect things to make sense.)
Here's the LA Times story on Prejean's pageant loss and the subsequent scandals over the photos.
Annnnnnnyway, after dangling in the wind for a few weeks, Prejean has learned she'll be keeping her crown as Miss Kali. And I guess she's just so excited she had to spread the word. So Prejean, and her now-unbared boobies, scampered over to James Dobson, head honcho of the conservative Christian organization Focus On The Family (FOTF) to talk about her experience.
Naturally, the right-wing radio host is championing Prejean as some kind of she-bin-dun-wrong victim of free speech suppression (it's always Christians who are being oppressed; the oppression where gay people are told they can't marry doesn't count) .
But what's interesting about the Dobson interview, which you can listen to here, is the creepy bit about how Prejean thought Satan was speaking to her through the pageant judge who asked her the gay marriage question.
A quote, transcribed by Dan Gilgoff on his US News And World Report blog, God And Country: "I felt as though Satan was trying to tempt me in asking me this question. And then God was in my head and in my heart saying, "Do not compromise this."
Full article here.
The bottom line: Prejean might not be a bigot, after all. She thinks she recieved spiritual transmissions during a beauty pageant? I'm going to go out on a limb and say maybe she's just psychotic.
Christianity. Sometimes it's tough to be a fan.
UPDATE: Miss USA judge Perez Hilton, who asked Prejean the question, says God told him to (LA Times).
UPDATE 2: The Miss California organization apparently bought Carrie Prejean breast implants before the Miss USA contest. Why do I get the feeling that absolutely everybody associated with these pageants is going to go to hell when they die? (LA Times)
Harper's War on Science
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Scientists -- credible scientists, that is -- are appalled to have discovered that Harper's been stacking the boards of various scientific bodies with climate change deniers. Most recently, he installed Mark Mullins, Executive Director of the right-wing Fraser Institute, to the board of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), while he appointed John Weissenberger to the board of Canadian Foundation for Innovation, a funder of large research projects. Read a more detailed account at DeSmog Blog. Or an equally detailed but more diplomatic one at the Globe and Mail.
Add to this the fact that Harper is actively defunding curiousity-driven scientific research, is out there provoking and angering the scientific community, and has installed a science and technology minister who is not only a chiropractor (SkepticWiki on chiropractic) but also very likely an evolution denier (or at the very least an evolution not-understanderer), and what you get is a medieval, science-hating government of ignorance. Bring on the Dark Ages. No wonder the credible scientists are packing up and leaving our fair Dominion.
Add to this the fact that Harper is actively defunding curiousity-driven scientific research, is out there provoking and angering the scientific community, and has installed a science and technology minister who is not only a chiropractor (SkepticWiki on chiropractic) but also very likely an evolution denier (or at the very least an evolution not-understanderer), and what you get is a medieval, science-hating government of ignorance. Bring on the Dark Ages. No wonder the credible scientists are packing up and leaving our fair Dominion.
5.11.2009
Downtown Plan Discussion Postponed
Wednesday's meeting of the Regina Planning Commission to discuss the Downtown Neighbourhood Plan has been canceled. Discussion of the plan will be postponed to some yet to be determined date.
From what I've heard, this probably has more to do with the practice of circulating city reports on the Friday before their discussion on the following Wednesday (when RPC meetings traditionally occur). The Downtown Plan is a huge document and some stakeholders feel they need more time to plow through it.
Fair enough. Still, one wonders who these stakeholders are who've expressed a need for more time to review the document and provide comments. I know that it's been a complaint among some in the community that they aren't given enough time to examine the reports that affect them. If, by having the Downtown Plan held up, the message gets through to city admin that community members, councillors and anyone affected by city decisions need more lead time before engaging in official discussion of reports, well then that's great.
Sawyer's Series
Huh! Apparently, Canadian science fiction author and frequent visitor to Saskatchewan Robert Sawyer has a TV series a-coming, as one of his books, Flash Forward, just scored a 13-episode run on ABC. Nifty! (CBC)
Anyone who wants more Sawyer can check out the author's blog, here. Link goes to the Flash Forward post, from Friday. And what the heck, here's a self-serving link to his recent Blog Post on his April 9 Planet S cover interview.
Sawyer will beam into Regina on Saturday, June 20 at Book and Brier Patch for signing and socializing.
Anyone who wants more Sawyer can check out the author's blog, here. Link goes to the Flash Forward post, from Friday. And what the heck, here's a self-serving link to his recent Blog Post on his April 9 Planet S cover interview.
Sawyer will beam into Regina on Saturday, June 20 at Book and Brier Patch for signing and socializing.
Six In The Morning
1 THEY USED TO CALL HIM LYIN' BRIAN Former PM Mulroney will take the stand tomorrow at the Oliphant inquiry. Here's a preview in the Globe And Mail. Meanwhile, the Toronto Star's Chantal Hébert contrasts the Karlheinz Schreiber scandal with the Sponsorship shenanigans that led to a full-blown public inquiry.
2 ROUNDING UP Apparently, the passing grade in Saskatchewan high schools is 45 per cent. Which wouldn't have helped certain prairie dog editors who once scored a 26 per cent in Math 300. But we won't talk about that. (StarPhoenix)
3 PIRATE PALS Somali pirates use British informers for tactical information about the ships they're attacking, according to a report. (Guardian)
4 MASSACRE AT CAMP LIBERTY A U.S. soldier in Iraq shot five fellow soldiers at a major U.S. military base in Baghdad. Yikes. (New York Times)
5 I GUESS IT'S TOUGH TO BE THE KING OF A COALITION Recently-acclaimed federal liberal leader Michael Ignatieff gives his spin on last fall's coalition between the Liberals and the NDP--he says it would've divided Canadians. (CP/Toronto Star)
6 CITY SUPPORTS SYMPHONY Regina reaches for its wallet to help fund a free RSO show scheduled for August. (Leader-Post)
2 ROUNDING UP Apparently, the passing grade in Saskatchewan high schools is 45 per cent. Which wouldn't have helped certain prairie dog editors who once scored a 26 per cent in Math 300. But we won't talk about that. (StarPhoenix)
3 PIRATE PALS Somali pirates use British informers for tactical information about the ships they're attacking, according to a report. (Guardian)
4 MASSACRE AT CAMP LIBERTY A U.S. soldier in Iraq shot five fellow soldiers at a major U.S. military base in Baghdad. Yikes. (New York Times)
5 I GUESS IT'S TOUGH TO BE THE KING OF A COALITION Recently-acclaimed federal liberal leader Michael Ignatieff gives his spin on last fall's coalition between the Liberals and the NDP--he says it would've divided Canadians. (CP/Toronto Star)
6 CITY SUPPORTS SYMPHONY Regina reaches for its wallet to help fund a free RSO show scheduled for August. (Leader-Post)
This Week at City Hall
Monday, May 11
City Council (5:30 pm): Highlights include proposed alterations to the exterior of the Leader Building, a condo conversion on Froom Crescent, an extension of seasonal taxicab licenses, special event funding, and a change to the Official Community Plan so that the city could charge development levies. At the end of the schedule -- so you can bet it'll sail through without any problems -- is a proposal to convert a Warehouse District building at 1916 Dewdney into offices. Wouldn't be such a bad idea, except the applicant will be demolishing a building to the north of 1916 Dewdney to make way for -- you guessed it -- more paved surface parking! Joy! Once again, instead of an old building being restored or a new one being built to attract more business into a community, we get a swathe of asphalt. Nice work. Apparently, based on its square meterage, 1916 Dewdney would usually require 73 parking spots but since it is within the historic Warehouse District that requirement is dropped to 37 stalls. The developer, however, is proposing 84 stalls.
Wednesday, May 13
Regina Planning Commission (4 pm): This meeting will be devoted to the Regina Downtown Neighbourhood Plan. I suspect there'll be a presentation by Jennifer Keesmat and the Office for Urbanism crew. I'll admit that so far I'm pretty pleased with how the plan looks, though I must confess I haven't read it closely. The one section I'm especially impressed by is the Built Form Framework, which lays out guidelines for any new construction or building renovation work. Hope it's passed without alteration but I suspect it'll be the most contentious part of the plan. As mentioned earlier, finding the plan on the city website can be a challenge so you can avoid the frustration of searching for yourself by clicking here.
As always, you can download full agendas and reports from the city's website.
City Council (5:30 pm): Highlights include proposed alterations to the exterior of the Leader Building, a condo conversion on Froom Crescent, an extension of seasonal taxicab licenses, special event funding, and a change to the Official Community Plan so that the city could charge development levies. At the end of the schedule -- so you can bet it'll sail through without any problems -- is a proposal to convert a Warehouse District building at 1916 Dewdney into offices. Wouldn't be such a bad idea, except the applicant will be demolishing a building to the north of 1916 Dewdney to make way for -- you guessed it -- more paved surface parking! Joy! Once again, instead of an old building being restored or a new one being built to attract more business into a community, we get a swathe of asphalt. Nice work. Apparently, based on its square meterage, 1916 Dewdney would usually require 73 parking spots but since it is within the historic Warehouse District that requirement is dropped to 37 stalls. The developer, however, is proposing 84 stalls.
Wednesday, May 13
Regina Planning Commission (4 pm): This meeting will be devoted to the Regina Downtown Neighbourhood Plan. I suspect there'll be a presentation by Jennifer Keesmat and the Office for Urbanism crew. I'll admit that so far I'm pretty pleased with how the plan looks, though I must confess I haven't read it closely. The one section I'm especially impressed by is the Built Form Framework, which lays out guidelines for any new construction or building renovation work. Hope it's passed without alteration but I suspect it'll be the most contentious part of the plan. As mentioned earlier, finding the plan on the city website can be a challenge so you can avoid the frustration of searching for yourself by clicking here.
As always, you can download full agendas and reports from the city's website.
5.10.2009
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