Hey Anne,
You should run for the job of chief of the Glooscap First Nation northwest of Halifax.
Tax free, of course.
You’d be replacing this lady.
It’s hard work, though, as that band has 87 people.
… Maybe you’re better off to only run for councilor, a job paying between $210,000 and $260,000.
Isn’t Canada a great country?
Powerful.
Part of the noh8 campaign, in reaction to gay suicides and the November 4, 2008 Proposition 8 ban of same-sex marriages in California.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Jon Stewart ripped John McCain a new one on Monday night. McCain has waffled back and forth on a no win issue for Republicans, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
His wife, Cindy, appeared in that video saying:
… “Our political and religious leaders tell LGBT youth that they have no future … They can’t serve our country openly,” she said on the video.
Then later tweeted:
You can’t have it both ways, Cindy.
McCain’s daughter wants DADT repealed. Must make for some awkward family meals.
One day we’ll wish we listened more closely to Cory Doctorow and Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig, two spokesmen who can explain today why your internet freedom is at risk. And why copyright law is the beginning of the end.
Thought provoking.
One entertaining example of the benefits of free internet: a TED talk –Re-examining the remix
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube (20min).
There’s a war happening right now and most people don’t realize it. Dinosaurs fighting change. … I really hope dinosaurs go extinct.
Governments have a big role to play in deciding internet freedom. Many of the American politicians who supported a free internet lost in the mid-term election. It looks bad in the USA.
In transit at the Beijing airport yesterday I had to swipe my passport to access the internet, same as in Rome earlier this summer. Is that the future of your internet?
With a mild climate, Lisbon, Portugal has a lot of homeless on the streets.
Twice in one day I happened upon one of them defecating in the street. … I had to restrain my inner Ayn Rand.
Having these guys sleeping outside your place of business is not good for your business. It’s not healthy for them, obviously.
What should we do with vagrants?
Note: Europe’s worse than North America in that there are so few public toilets.
Canadian traveler Jennifer snapped this photo in the U.K.
You can text to find the nearest public toilet. That’s an improvement.
… Of course this guy doesn’t have a phone. Looks like he’s heading into the Metro looking for a loo.
GOOD NEWS – the tug and pull between labour and management is still healthy in France.
I tried to take a train from Amsterdam to Portugal. It was possible, but tricky, since all the French trains are parked. In the end, I was forced to fly.
My previous train journey had me taking an Italian sleeper train to Paris, … dashing from one rail station to the next by public bus, … and connecting to a Dutch train to Amsterdam. All the French trains were on strike.
Yep, I missed my connection.
But if tourists need suffer to maintain the right of comrades to protest of the government increasing the retirement age from 60 to 62 (MERDE!), so be it.
Worse, age for pension from age 65 to 67. (MERDE MERDE!)
A car was set on fire as students and policemen clashed in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, France on Oct. 18.
Sarkozy, are you an enemy of the people? … Off with your head.
Hey … You can’t make an omelette in France without smashing the chicken coop to smithereens for a few weeks.
Joie de Vie, mon Cheminots amis. I sing L’Internationale with you.
Note: Other travelers, like my friend Blythe, teaching English in France, are not nearly so open minded as moi.
Her 10yr term as Canada’s Auditor General is coming to an end.
That’s a shame.
Sheila Fraser has been an effective government watchdog. And watchdogs are what government needs.
… She made headlines across Canada when her report on the sponsorship scandal rocked the country’s political scene.
She confirmed serious problems in the federal government’s management of its Sponsorship Program for a four-year period beginning in 1997. In a few very troubling cases, sponsorship funds were transferred to Crown corporations using what the Auditor General called “highly questionable methods.”
That is, they appeared to have been designed to pay significant commissions to communications agencies, while hiding the source of funding and the true nature of the transactions. Parliament and the parliamentary appropriations process were not respected …
I LOVE those long term appointments of watchdogs. We need more of those at all levels, in all kinds of governance.
In a much-anticipated report, released yesterday, Auditor-General Sheila Fraser concluded the Harper government’s stimulus program was well-managed but criticized the purchase of military helicopters as overbudget and at least a half a decade behind schedule.
National Post – The stimulus audit
Her replacement is yet to be named.
He’s an eloquent public speaker. I’ve seen him adlib brilliantly.
… But he lost it this day.
Click PLAY or watch Mr. President on YouTube.
Thanks Randy.
At the end of 2009 I predicted that Obama would lose the next Presidential election.
2010 has confirmed. There’s an astonishing groundswell of support for the far right in the USA, especially the Tea Party movement.
Wingnut Christine O’Donnell pulled off a “stunning upset over nine-term Rep. Mike Castle in the Republican Senate primary in Delaware”. (53% to 47%)
O’Donnell is kooky enough to get Sarah Palin’s endorsement.
Many are thinking that Democrats would rather run against easy targets like O’Donnell than established Republicans like Mike Castle.
Tea Party extremism will help Obama. But not enough for him to win a second term.
And that’s a shame. He’s a good man who came to power at exactly the wrong time.
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O’Donnell actually got good reviews for her first speech after being elected.
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UPDATE link thanks to Peter Long:
Will Sarah’s mini-me steal her limelight? Margaret Carlson on the dangers of the new It Girl.
Awesome.
Comedy Central funnymen Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have announced dueling rallies in Washington D.C. in an apparent attempt to poke fun at the sometimes self-important and serious tone of political discourse in America.
On Thursday’s “The Daily Show,” Stewart said he’d host the “Rally to Restore Sanity” on Oct. 30 on the National Mall. He said the goal was to “take it down a notch for America.” …
The call to rally is apparently a play on Fox talk show host Glenn Beck, who hosted a highly-publicized “Restoring Honor” rally in D.C. less than three weeks ago. …
Colbert responded as a right wing fear monger with his own: ‘March to Keep Fear Alive‘
Throwing down the gauntlet at Stewart, Colbert says, “They want to replace our Fear with reason. But never forget — “Reason” is just one letter away from “Treason.”
Coincidence?
Reasonable people would say it is, but America can’t afford to take that chance.”
Coming from Canada, I’m still shocked at the number of Americans riding hogs without helmets.
… Motorcycle helmets greatly reduce injuries and fatalities in motorcycle accidents, thus many countries have laws requiring acceptable helmets to be worn by motorcycle riders. These laws vary considerably, often exempting mopeds and other small-displacement bikes.
In some countries, most notably the USA and India, there is some opposition to compulsory helmet use …
Ah, right.
In America (and India) FREEDOM is more important than personal safety. Got it.
… Twenty-seven states have a motorcycle helmet law that only require some riders to wear a helmet. Three states (Illinois, Iowa, and New Hampshire) do not have a motorcycle helmet law. …
I assume that people forfeit their government and/or corporate insurance if they take a fall without a helmet.
It would be idiotic to expect others to pay for my brain damage, self inflicted.
By the way, does riding a Harley Hog make you fat? … Cause and effect?
Rick McCharles 
