Rosie LaRose’s Top Six in the A.M.

PRETTY VACANT Carrie Prejan became an internet sensation after a) competing as Miss California in the Miss America beauty pageant b) denouncing gay marriage on the Q&A part c) stripped of the Miss California title (no, not THAT stripped) and d) with acting like a Church Lady, becoming a darling of the American right wing movement. Until now. It turns out that she made at least eight sex tapes (radar.com) before discovering the pageant circuit. Apparently, gay marriage isn't acceptable: getting breast implants in Jesus' name is (HuffPo). Don't recall learning that in Sunday School ...

THE FIRE SALE STARTS IN FOUR, THREE, TWO … The result of the Sask. Party spending spree over the past two years makes me think of disaster capitalism – and if there isn’t a disaster, make one. Bill Hutchinson is denying that the Saskatchewan government is in Stage Two by saying Casinos Regina and Moose Jaw aren’t for sale. (L-P) My advice to SIGA: wait.

SEE WHAT A LITTLE BOOKLEARNING WILL GET YA A ten-year-old kid in Arkansas says he won't recite the Pledge of Allegiance with the rest of his class at school because the government won't grant equal rights to gays and lesbians, and the notion of 'equal justice for all,' therefore, is a lie. And he won't tell a lie. (Progressive Puppy) Smart kid. The odds that the school district, the Christopunks in the playground, and the Faux News Network will conspire to make his life a living hell are, what, even? Just kidding. (hat tip to Red Tory)

SO WHAT IF ATLAS SHRUGGED? Ayn Rand is one of those so-called thinkers who have influenced everybody from Allan Greenspan to Neal Peart, usually for the worse. Johann Hari reviews two new biographies of the woman whose amphetamine-fuelled humanity-basking exercises made her the darling of the neo-conservative movement, and how her political system is more like Marxist-Leninism than her boosters let on. (Slate)

FEAR FACTOR The American government is planning to bring the alleged chief conspirator behind 9/11 to New York for trail, which has set off the American conservative moment, who are saying he shouldn’t be brought into the country for a court date. Well, if the rule of law can’t be brought against someone who breaks the law, then the terrorists have won – by the government conducting itself like terrorists. (Attackerman)

INSERT DIRK DIGGLER SMART-ASS REFERENCE HERE What the …. Well, I don’t know anybody that would be wearing these, unless it was someone trying to hide their colostomy bag in their pants. (Revolving Clothing)

Waste Plan Open Houses

Tomorrow evening, the city will begin it's next round of consultations for it's Waste Plan Regina. You'll be getting a chance to review the three options for improving our waste management system. If you're one of those folk who think the way the city handles garbage could be improved (like, say, by incorporating curbside recycling) it's pretty important to attend one of these meetings and make your feelings heard.

From what I've heard, councillors, consultants and city staff are pretty confident that at the end of this process, we will be getting curbside recycling. I hope they're right but I have to say I'm dubious. I'm worried the cheapskates who're always chanting "hold the line on property taxes" will rule the day and we'll wind up, once again, with no recycling program to speak of.

If you can't make it out to one of the Waste Plan open houses, you can at least fill out the questionnaire on the city's website. If you do want to make it to an open house here's the list of dates, times and locations.

Wednesday, November 18: 
South Leisure Centre
, Gymnasium, 
170 Sunset Drive
, 5:30-8 pm

Tuesday, November 24: 
City Hall, 
3 to 6pm

Thursday, November 26: 
Glencairn Neighbourhood 
Recreation Centre
, Large Meeting Room
, 2626 Dewdney Avenue E, 
5:30-8pm

Wednesday, December 2
: Cathedral Neighbourhood
 Centre, Multipurpose Room
, 2900 - 13th Avenue
, 5:30-8pm

Wednesday, December 9
: North West Leisure Centrem 
1127 Arnason Street
, 5:30-8pm

If you want more detail on what's being considered waste-plan-wise, you can read a summary on the city's website.

This Week at City Hall

Wednesday, November 18
Executive Committee (11:45 am): Considering at the Servicing Agreement Fee rate for 2010. SAFs are the fees charged to developers to cover the cost of providing and maintaining municipal infrastructure (sewer, roads and the like) into new subdivisions. For 2010, developers can expect to pay $227,289 per hectare if the new rate is approved.

The committee is also considering the Recreation Infrastructure Canada Fund Contribution Agreement -- by passing this (assuming I'm reading this right) the city will officially be committing $1,000,000 to Douglas Park improvements... the provincial and federal governments have already committed $750,000 each to this project.

The committee is also looking at some proposed changes in language to the Appointment and Authorization of City Officials Bylaw so that it will accurately reflect the administration's new organizational structure.

And finally, the committee is considering the Harbour Landing Borrowing Bylaw -- this will codify the infrastructure "debt" the city owes to Dundee Development. As it was explained to me, Dundee has already begun construction of infrastructure in the Harbour Landing subdivision. Normally, they'd pay servicing feed to the city to have those installed but now, instead of paying servicing fees, the value of the infrastructure they've built will be deducted from the servicing fees they should have been paying.

Pick of the Day: Vader

Former Prime Minister Paul Martin is in town today to speak at a Regina Chamber of Commerce luncheon on the subject of Aboriginal Education. That's definitely a worthwhile topic. and I know that a ton of RCC members are faithful bordering on fanatical readers of this blog, but I'm in the mood to do a bit of head bangin' tonight. So I'm gonna go with the Polish death metal band Vader who are at the Exchange tonight along with Decrepit Birth and Warbringer.

Vader have been shredding metalheads world-wide since 1983. If memory serves, Poland was kind of going through an upheaval around that time as Lech Walesa and other activists in the country were throwing off the shackles of Soviet tyranny. And no, the accompanying photo isn't intended as dig against Vader. According to Wikipedia, they actually do take their name from Darth Vader. You know Josh Homme's band Eagles of Death Metal? Well, apparently Homme first came up with the phrase after a friend played Vader for him as part of a campaign to turn him on to death metal. He described them as "the Eagles of Death metal". Later, he decided that would make a neat band name.

To help loosen up your neck muscles for tonight's gig, here's the video for Vader's song "Sword of the Witcher" which is apparently inspired by the books of Polish fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski.

More On U.S. Climate Change Politics

The New York Times has a summary of how difficult it is to get anti-global warming legislation passed in the United States. It doesn't mention how government is up against lobbyists fighting regulation every step of the way which is the biggest part of the problem, but otherwise it's a decent recap of where the world's at on this file. Article's here.

Six In The Morning

1 WE'LL FIX IT LATER United States President Barack Obama says it's too late in the game to expect a climate deal out of Copenhagen (Guardian). And also, his country's political and business class doen't believe in stuff like "science" and "facts" they'd never pass laws enforcing emissions limits. Okay he didn't say the second part. But he's totally thinking it.

2 AND OBAMA IS IN CHINA, TOO Sounds like he more or less successfully juggled the impossible job of not pissing people off too much in his town hall with Chinese students. He gently poked China's leadership on being totalitarian dicks but he also said fuzzywarm things about not containing China.

3 OLD-TIMEY SOLUTIONS The Province's new coyote bounty is wrongheaded, say critics (Leader-Post). But I thought randomly shooting animals always fixes everything. Isn't that how they did it in the 1800s? Has our understanding of the natural world changed in the past 200 years and I didn't get the memo? Good golly gee whiz.

4 NDP VOTE MESS TO MANITOBA in case you (like me) missed it, the Dwain Lingenfelter leadership forgery scandal thing is now being reviewed by Manitoba prosecutors. The RCMP turned the results of their investigation over recently. (StarPhoenix)

5 SPEAKING OF MANITOBA... A St. Boniface Tory is baffled and wounded that a school division refused her generous gift of party propagandha.

6 R.I.P. Edward Woodward, star of The Equalizer, Hot Fuzz and Hammer horror classic-for-the-ages The Wicker Man has died at age 79.

Pick of the Day: Talkin' About School & Society

Brotheridge beat me to the punch with his cover story in our Nov. 5 issue on Ohbijou, so I thought I'd give a shout out to the second installment of this popular Faculty of Education series which is being held tonight at LaBodega at 7 p.m. I say popular, because when I attended the first one on Youth, Gangs, Dropouts and Racism in late September the room was packed.

The topic tonight promises to be equally interesting: Pathologizing Childhood & Adolesence. I'm not sure what direction, exactly, the discussion will take, but I do know that in recent years a veritable epidemic of Attention Deficit Disorder has apparently broken out among school age children. Boys seem to be particularly vulnerable, and have been prescribed ritalin by the mouthful to curb their disruptive behaviour. At least, that's officialdom's take on the "problem".

It might be true that behaviorial problems among children are more prevalent these days -- although, as I recall, kids back in my day weren't exactly saints. But is this truly a medical issue or, as the title of this discussion seems to imply, are we doing what we so often do in our society, which is to ignore root causes of issues and settle for reactive as opposed to proactive strategies to deal with them?

Take diet, for example. Judging by obesity rates, kids today are consuming way too much sugar. Even in adults, that can wreak havoc on body metabolism and adversely affect behaviour. Is the solution to medicate children, or promote better nutrition? Class size is another issue. If we underfund education, so that schools have to boost student-teacher ratios, then teachers are less able to cope with classroom disruptions than they otherwise could. Due to the woeful lack of child care options, parents, especially in double-income families, are also under increasing stress. Medicating kids helps everyone cope, I suppose, but at a huge cost to the child's physical and mental well-being.

The subject's more complex than that, I'm sure. If you drop by LaBodega tonight, you'll find that out. And for those who are heading to the Exchange to catch Ohbijou, here's the video for their song "New Years" (YouTube). And because she's so damn cute, here's Light's (a.k.a. Canuck synth-popster Valerie Poxleitner) video for her song "Ice" (YouTube). She's at the Distrikt tonight.

Pick of the Day: Stephen Fearing

Born in Vancouver in 1963, Stephen Fearing grew up in Dublin, but returned to Canada as an 18-year-old and embarked on a career as a folk singer that has seen him release seven solo albums, among them The Assassin's Apprentice (1993), Industrial Lullaby (1997) and Yellowjacket (2006).

In 1996, Fearing teamed with ex-Junkhouse frontman Tom Wilson and blues wizard Colin Linden to form Blackie & the Rodeo Kings. They were a hit at the Regina Folk Festival a few years back, and are still going strong. This year, in fact, they released a compilation album called Swingin' From the Chains of Love that includes a cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues".

Currently touring in support of a greatest hits package titled The Man Who Married Music, Fearing plays the Exchange tonight at 7:30 p.m. Backing him up on the bill, which is presented by Grassroots Regina, is Steve Palmer. To whet your appetite, here's Fearing's video for the song "Home" off Industrial Lullaby. (YouTube)

Narco and the financial woes

Frankly I don't know what's sadder: the fact that Don Narcisse was apparently scammed out of his football retirement savings (LP), that a retired BC Lions offensive lineman did more to uncover the Ponzi scheme scams at the time than the RCMP commercial crimes unit or securities inspectors in BC and Alberta (Globe and Mail), or that Narco's total pension from playing 13 years of football for the Saskatchewan Roughriders (Wikipedia) is $65,000.

Saturday Morning Cartoons

I know this isn't the kind of "cartoon" these Saturday morning posts are generally reserved for... but, holy crap, this is some of the most extraordinary animation I've ever seen.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.