Thursday Oct. 26

Ok so I'm really stretching the "semi-daily" moniker to the limit I realize, but here we go anyway.

Peter McKay - stop sniffing Condie's butt and man-up and apologize you pussy.
On that topic, this is the first time I've ever agreed with Helena:

"And I have to say that I do believe that Canadians are probably sick and tired of being dragged into a high school romance gone wrong."
No kidding!

Rush Limbaugh - one word: Karma.
By the way - it seems Rush has truly mastered the art of the "un-pology" (props to Seinfeld for coining that term):
"All right then, I stand corrected. . . . So I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox, if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act." Then Limbaugh pivoted to a different critique: "Michael J. Fox is allowing his illness to be exploited and in the process is shilling for a Democratic politician."

Tell you what Rush, you and the Repubs can stick to shamelessly exploiting the deaths of the 9-11 victims to perpetuate war, and we'll stick to trying to get actors to exploit their illnessess to try and get permission to conduct life saving research. Deal?

What's this? Free healthcare saves money? Those hospital admins must be on the payroll of the NY Times. Pinkos!

Finally, next time gas prices hop over the one-dollar a litre mark and politicians try to tell you the prices are simply a function of supply and demand, or oil companies tell you it's the taxes that are responsible for high pump prices, print out a copy of this story and hand it to send person and tell him to shove it up his/her ass:

"The ExxonMobil Corporation reported today that it earned $10.49 billion in the third quarter, the second largest quarterly profit ever posted by a publicly traded American company. The largest on record was also reported by ExxonMobil - $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005."

Photo of the Year

Classic!

Typical

Ok - my one day of benevolence is over. Now back to our regularly scheduled ranting.

Seems these two opportunists didn't get the memo about not politicizing 9/11 - what a surprise. Classy as always.

As I watched Bush's speech last night, this paragraph in particular jumped out at me:

"We are now in the early hours of this struggle between tyranny and freedom. Amid the violence, some question whether the people of the Middle East want their freedom, and whether the forces of moderation can prevail. For 60 years, these doubts guided our policies in the Middle East. And then, on a bright September morning, it became clear that the calm we saw in the Middle East was only a mirage. Years of pursuing stability to promote peace had left us with neither. So we changed our policies, and committed America's influence in the world to advancing freedom and democracy as the great alternatives to repression and radicalism."

What?

We saw calm in the Middle East for the last 60 years? Apparently Middle Eastern History for Dummies didn't bother to include chapters on the Iran-Iraq war, the Persian Gulf war, Libya's line of death, the ongoing Palestinian-Israel "conflict", the Lebanese civil war, the barracks bombing of US Marines in Lebanon, the Arab-Israeli war, the Six Day war, etc. etc etc. What planet's Middle East is he talking about? It sure as hell ain't Earth's!

I also love the implication that years of pursuing "stability" hasn't worked - so now we're pursuing instability? Mission accomplished!

Oh, and in case you missed it "I'm often asked why we're in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks".

I hope Dick Cheney was watching.

By the way, the journal de Montreal answers the question "Are we safer since 9-11?"

Billions of our tax dollars spent on a smokescreen, and we can't afford healthcare any more. Riiiiiiight.

September 11

Of all days, today is not one for political rants.

It's amazing how much has changed in the five years since that horrific day, but the thing that strikes me most is how quickly the sense of good that came out of the worst possible circumstances - has vanished.

I remember then US Ambassador to Canada Paul Celucci addressing the huge crowd on Parliament Hill a few days after the attacks and saying Canadians "truly are our closest friends."
I don't think that statement could be repeated today, and that's a sad thing given the outpouring of grief and solidarity that followed the attacks.

Partisanship, both in Canada and in the US, seemed to disappear for a few weeks and months that followed 9-11, but now, just five years later, there is vehement hatred being lobbed back and forth on seemingly every issue that divides the left and right, Democrat and Republican, Liberal and Conservative, Muslim and Jew, etc. etc. etc.

We'd all do well to remind ourselves of how much we accomplished in the days after 9-11 when we stood and worked together. And we should remember that whatever our political/social/religious philosophy may be, no sane person ever wants to see anything like 9-11 happen again.

I'm Back

Apologies to my loyal followers for being incommunicado for a week - pressing business at the factory and all that...

So - we're up to 32 dead in Afghanistan thanks to our friendly neighbours dropping another "smart bomb" on the heads of our soldiers. It must be a real treat for our troops to be over there having to worry about Taliban ambushes, suicide bombs, and now - once again, being blown to bits by our own allies.

Memo to American fighter pilots - "Cut down on the amphetamines and take a goddamn look at where the friendlies are before you fire!"

More to the point, can someone remind me why we're wasting Canadian lives over there again? Oh right, to spread democracy to the most f'd up country that the planet has ever seen (well, maybe the second most f'd up). That'll work.

When will we wake up and realize that there will never be peace in that country? Did we not learn from the Soviets who got their asses kicked for over a decade? I guess not.

Speaking of Iraq, I see GW is back pimping his Iraq strategy - even though he doesn't have one.
The most ridiculous quote of the week goes to the man himself where he says his Stay the Course Tour 2006 is not political. Took me three days to stop laughing over that one...
It's quite a re-election strategy those Republicans have... make Americans as scared as possible and believe that the only one who can protect them is the mighty GOP:

"My series of speeches, they are not political speeches, they are speeches about the future of this country and they are speeches to make it clear that if we retreat before the job is done, this nation will become in even more jeopardy. These are important times and I would seriously hope people wouldn't politicize these issues that I am going to talk about."

I'll let the absurdity of that one speak for itself.

Bad news for those still hanging on to Joe McCarthy's communist-free utopia - Fidel is on the mend! Put the invasion on hold and send him a box of get well exploding cigars.

Shame!

Shame on Canada's doctors for putting dollars ahead of patients - but would you really expect anything but from this lot? I guess a massively subsidized education and a 6-figure salary for life just ain't enough for some people.

As outgoing CMA President Dr. Collins-Nakaiso so eloquently put it: "If we begin to put doctors' interests ahead of patients' interests and advocate a parallel system ... we will lose public trust."

Put another nail in the coffin of universal coverage.

Does PSAC Know About This?

How long before some poor government type sues the GOC thanks to this study. Puhleeeze!

From the Ottawa Citizen:

The BlackBerry is so addictive that users jokingly call the handheld e-mail device their "CrackBerry."

Now, a workaholism researcher is warning that giving such electronic devices to workers could be equated with handing out real crack.

Gayle Porter, an associate professor of management at the Rutgers University School, said the relentless pace of a technology-enhanced workplace can become addictive. And employers may face lawsuits in the future for creating that addictive stimulation. "Information and communication technology addiction has been treated by policy makers as a kind of elephant in the room: Everyone sees it, but no one wants to acknowledge it directly."

Technology addictions may be just as damaging to mental health as drug and alcohol addiction, she said. In an upcoming study, Ms. Porter and her colleagues say companies have long recognized their duty to protect employees. She points to tobacco litigation in the U.S. to illustrate how the law on addictive behaviour has evolved.

If people work longer hours to make more money, they assume the risk, said Ms. Porter.

If an employer manipulates a worker's technology addiction or workaholic tendencies for his own benefit, then the legal perspective shifts. "When professional advancement (or survival) seems to depend on 24/7 connectivity, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between choice and manipulation," said Ms. Porter, who doesn't know of employees suing over electronic addiction, but still advises workers not to take their electronic leashes on vacation.

E-mail devices are the most demanding work-extension technologies, especially handheld devices, because they can't be ignored, said Linda Duxbury, a professor at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business who has studied technologies such as laptops and cellphones.

However, a lot of people use BlackBerrys as procrastination devices, and others use them as status symbols, she said.

Workers can prove expectations around work have increased because of electronic devices, she said. It would be harder to claim they are actually addicted to the gadgets, she argues. A worker whose BlackBerry is taken away is not like an addict who has given up cocaine. "That's a physiological response," said Ms. Duxbury, who is studying BlackBerry use.

There are about five million users of the BlackBerry, produced by Waterloo, Ont.'s Research in Motion Ltd.

A study released yesterday by T-Mobile, which provides BlackBerry services in Britain, found half of BlackBerry users would find it a "matter of concern" if they were parted from their electronic leash. One in 10 would be "devastated."