Crazy Cons Discount Cutlery

It's not like Harper's Conservatives are selling state secrets. They're just selling state silverware.

The Edmonton Sun reports that the Canadian government has "quietly" unloaded heritage tableware from Rideau Hall. Which might or might not be important to you (or me). But what is anger-stoking is the fact that these valuable antiques were sold to anonymous bidders at prices far, far below their value.

The full story is here.

There's an excellent chance there'll be an election before the year is over. When that happens there's a very good chance the Conservatives will be turfed from government by the voters.

As my co-worker who forwarded this to me says, "someone literally needs to count the silver when they leave."

Another Councillor Throws His Hat into the Ring

Got a phone call today from Ward 1 councillor, Louis Browne, letting me know that he'll be seeking reelection this October 28.

Apparently, that means nine councilors have now declared their intention to run so far. And to my shame I can only name Councillor Clipsham as another of them. Mayor Fiacco, as most probably also already know, has also begun his reelection campaign.

As the election draws nearer I hope to do profiles of all the candidates. Which is to say, you'll probably be getting way more municipal election coverage out of the p-dog than you can handle, frankly. Consider yourselves warned.

Flaherty Needs to Stop Channelling My Grandfather

I remember, as a child, my grandfather explaining to me how our nation got out of the Great Depression because of the Second World War. All that money invested in the war machine jump started our economy, he would argue, slamming a fist on the kitchen table. My grandfather had a fifth grade education and became a lovely man after the stroke, but years later after I did some reading on the subject, I discovered our recovery from that economic catastrophe was more complicated than simply "war breeds wealth." The ideas that developed out the New Deal had a lot more to do with our post-Crash recovery and our prolonged post-War prosperity than my grandfather ever gave them credit. (And, we can thank their post-Reagan erosion for the economic pickle we're in now.)

Well, judging by comments from Peter MacKay, (Leader Post) it would seem the Conservatives have been taking economic advice from my dear departed grandfather. Perhaps the PM has been getting messages from my grampy -- Mackenzie-King style -- through his cat.

Before a gathering of the "defense industry elite," MacKay was proudly declaring today that the recession will not slow military spending. In fact, according to the Post article, he claims, "the Canadian economy as a whole will be buoyed by the sustainable economic benefits that accrue through domestic and global opportunities in and beyond defence and security."

Personally, I find it ominous when a government links the word "sustainable" with anything to do with the military.

Note to Conservatives ...

You're going to learn just how crappy you made the economy. (Hill Times via Warren Kinsella)

Mediamelon --30--

Bill Stovin has packed in his mediamelon blog, after taking a communications consulting job with the Saskatchewan government. Too bad, because in the short time he wrote it, it was one of the best Saskatchewan-based blogs out there. Good luck Bill. His last post.

Six In The Morning

1 GM DEAL EXPLODES, BANKRUPTCY LIKELY Governments did their part to save GM. Workers did theirs. But bondholders refused a deal to swap debt for stock, and now bankruptcy looks inevitable. A shitty day for GM workers and pensioners--who are probably the only people government should've been looking out for, here. (Globe And Mail)

2 TALKING URANIUM Public consultations on the nuclear reactor that's being pushed on us kicked off in Saskatoon yesterday. (StarPhoenix)

3 ESSENTIAL LABOUR LAWS? DOO-DIDDLEY DANDY The blatant, naked attack on organized labour that is the Saskatchewan government's essential services legislation is working fine, says Saskatchewan's Labour minister. (StarPhoenix, even though it's Leader-Post writer Angela Hall's story. But I can't find the link on the L-P's site. Wacky!)

4 NORTH KOREA RATTLES SWORD, RANTS CRAZILY The world's squawkiest rogue state seems intent on launching a regional war. Jerks. (Guardian)

5 GO PENS Pittsburgh--the U.S. city that charmed the crap out of me when I visited it last year--has a hockey team in the Stanley Cup finals for the second year in a row. (TSN) Meanwhile the Phoenix Coyotes ownership clusterfuck muddles along. (CBC)

6 TAX TIME! The City has mailed your property tax bill. Remember, you're not being gouged, you're paying for civilization and a stable city. Yes, that's expensive--but the alternative sucks. (Leader-Post)

Cat Scratch Fever

Don't if there's an actual medical term for what the woman in this video suffers from (YouTube), but Christie Callan-Jones just made a documentary about the phenomenon called Cat Ladies. (official website)

Stupid, Even For Hollywood

So, some idiots are planning to make a Buffy The Vampire Slayer movie without the cast and characters of the TV show and probably without Joss Whedon. (Dark Horizons)

What you need to know:

1.) Hollywood people are apparently far, far more stupid and arrogant than any of us thought. This is the mother of all insane ideas. This is like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom Of The Shitty Movie crossed with Catwoman bad. It's worse than a hundred farting Jar Jar Binkses. It's Thunderbirds meets Ishtar. It's the apocalypse.

2.) No way will this happen, because BTVS was an insanely popular TV show whose throngs of internet-saavy fans are as passionate as Trekkies and they will actively work to murder this slouching beast in its cradle. There's even a chance some unhinged Tara fan will hunt down and stake these morons in the heart, for real. (Note: murder is wrong. Probably even in this instance.)

So, you Buffy fans can relax. Well, probably.

Mob Rule 1, Civil Rights 0

California's Supreme Court has upheld Proposition 8, the controversial, democracy-endorsed constitutional amendment barring gay marriage. And by "democracy-endorsed" I mean a whopping 52 per cent! Of people who voted! Which is like 40 per cent of the population! So that's at least a couple thousand people in a state of 30 million!

(UPDATE: Actual research has determined that 6,322,732 Californians voted in a way that is consistent with being a homophobic coward and snivelling bigot, while 5,796,637 voted for tolerance and, by extension, sunshine, rainbows, love and goodness. Also, the state has over 38 million residents and, um, actually, had a record-breaking near-80 per cent voter turn-out in November 2008. Not 40 per cent. Cough.)

So anyway, this sucks if you're gay and Californian. Or if you don't think the masses should get a vote on the very personal choice of who is allowed to marry whom.

Full story in the LA Times, here.

Divorce and adultery remain legal, of course, so the married "family values" bigots pushing this discrimination are free to bang their congregations/secretaries/interns. And hey, since we're all angry anyway, here's a link to a news story on one random hypocrite homophobe's messy personal life. (The Stranger) I'm going to go out on a limb here and say a lot of the most agitated opponents to same-sex marriage have serious personal issues that they're dealing with by parading their prejudices around in public. Psychiatry, people! It can help!

Meanwhile, gay marriage is legal in Saskatchewan. And, since 2005, in all of Canada. No thanks to the well-documented opposition of one odious political /minority government (New York Times). So if you're gay and in California, move here! Our booming economy needs workers and we even provide free universal health care to Canadian citizens (and we love recovering Americans!). As for winter, well, uh, maybe it's better you not ask about that.

Ethics 101

Received word the other day that a new website has been launched in Montreal to promote ethical business practices in areas like the environment, labour relations and sustainability. It relies on case studies drawn from around the world. So far, 75 or so have been compiled. The goal is to add more as other examples of businesses behaving in an ethical manner are uncovered--assuming such entities actually exist (ethipedia)