Next year country

Damn.
Good on ya, guys. You played your hearts out for us, but, as my son quipped, for once the 13th man did you in.

Twitter Hamlet

Lance Mannion gives us the 21st century Hamlet:

SwtPrince_dk Oh that this 2 2 solid flesh wld melt thaw resolve itself=dew

SwtPrince_dk RT @Marcellus Something is rotten in the state of DK || Ya think?

SwtPrince_dk RT @DaneKing I am thy father’s spirit || Oh yeah? Prove it!

SwtPrince_dk @Horatio In heaven & earth > yr philosophy

SwtPrince_dk 2B or not 2B that is the ? Thoughts?

SwtPrince_dk Alas, poor Yorick I knew him @Horatio. See my blog for post I wrote about him, Infinite Jest. http://snurl.com/tehlk

SwtPrince_dk @Horatio Fie on the 140 character limit!

SwtPrince_dk @Horatio Forget it. Never saw the point of the @NorwayFort subplot anyway

SwtPrince_dk @Horatio iphone battery dying too. Irony?

SwtPrince_dk @Horatio The rest is silence

Saturday Morning Cartoon

How to Play Football (1944)


Our Riders were still called the "Regina Roughriders" when this cartoon was made, so maybe that's why they weren't featured in it!

Pig in a poke

Anybody who voted for the Saskatchewan Party because they assumed that this gang would do a better job managing public revenues is realizing about now that they bought a pig in a poke.
The latest mess is the screw up of school financing -- last spring the Sask Party did the bidding of their rural base by lowering school taxes and eliminating the ability of school boards to set their own mill rates.
Now with the drop in potash revenues, its becoming clear that they won't be able to afford to backfill school budgets like they promised they would.

Oh, the humanity!

Best Thanksgiving moment evah!.

Building a life

I have often hoped that the American football players who come to Saskatchewan to play football would realize that here is a place where they could build a life.
Instead of breaking their contracts and leaving the first chance they get, to break their hearts and lose their skills sitting on an NFL team bench, or to disappear into the second-banana coaching staff at Redneck U, these young players could stay in Regina, where they could not only keep on playing football at a high level but also become a leader and a highly-respected contributor to the community.
Darian Durant gets it.

"I don't think a quarterback has been around here for longer than four or five years in a long time," Durant said. "I just want to change the culture.
"We have a good nucleus here. Let's build around it, and let's try to build a dynasty."
Durant is actually the first Saskatchewan quarterback of note to take his first professional snap with the Riders and develop into a starter.

On his website Durant promises "We will make Rider Nation proud!"
Double D, you already have.

$15.3 million? Oh, never mind

Mint officials double-counted some gold bullion they sold, and also underestimated the shrinkage of the gold during processing.

Well, OK then. And you know those taxes I'm supposed to be paying you next April? Well, there's gonna be a little shrinkage, just a few bookkeeping errors really, but don't you worry boys, you'll get most of it, I'm sure...

That clunking sound

That clunking sound you hear is the other shoe dropping on the Afghan prisoner torture story.

Watching the game

You could shoot a cannon down Saskatoon streets right now -- everybody's watching the game.
Go team, go!!!
UPDATE:

Psalm 109 verse 8

You know, if it was Muslims who claimed they were "joking" about killing Obama, the American media would be outraged. But its people who call themselves Christians, so never mind...

Great line of the day

About the Con attempt to smear diplomat Richard Colvin, POGGE writes

But it doesn't matter how faithfully you serve this government. If it becomes convenient for them to throw you under a bus, then under the bus you go.

This is just the latest example in a long line which demonstrates that the Harper government values loyalty above all else, not competence or principle or accomplishment. God help us all if these guys ever get a majority.

Word salad

More word salad from Sarah Palin

O'Reilly: Let me be bold and fresh again. Do you believe you are smart enough, and incisive enough, intellectual enough, to handle the most powerful job in the world?
Palin: I believe that I am because I have common sense, and I have, I believe, the values that are reflective of so many American values. And I believe that what Americans are seeking is not the elitism, the, um, the, ah -- kind of spineless -- a spinelessness that perhaps is made up for that with elite Ivy League education and -- fact resume that's based on anything but hard work and private-sector, free-enterprise principles. Americans could be seeking something like that in positive change in their leadership. I'm not saying that that has to be me.

And considering that Palin cobbled together courses from four colleges to get a degree, and since has spent almost her entire working life being paid a public-sector salary, she really means it too, you betcha!

Lipstick on a pig?

Hillier says Obama can rally Canadians to support continued Canadian participation in the war in Afghanistan

Whether Canadian troops stay or leave Afghanistan could largely depend on the eloquence of U.S. President Barack Obama and his ability to rally western nations, says former chief of defence staff Rick Hillier.

Uh, no, you can't blame it on Obama -- even Obama can't put lipstick on this pig.

Jiggery--pokery

The bloom is off the rose when it comes to the Saskatchewan Party and the provincial budget-- and they are being called on it. The Star Phoenix editorial says:

...Although the minister argued he has been able to keep Saskatchewan's books in the black, it was only due to such jiggery-pokery as tapping into the questionable Growth and Financial Security Fund and using one-time revenue of $275 million from the sale of the Crown's share of Saskferco.
. . . . relying on [resource] revenues to fund operating expenses isn't a sustainable long-term strategy.
Worse still is for the government to be spending projected revenues from volatile resource sales before it actually has the money in the bank.

Murray Mandrky blasts them:

What was most disturbing about Thursday's mid-year Saskatchewan budget update wasn't the bungled $1.8-billion miscalculation of potash revenue, nor was it necessarily the throw-caution-to-the-wind decision to wager the equivalent of 20 per cent of our annual spending on a volatile resource at its apex and likely to face some level of decline
It wasn't the startlingly unwise decision to spend the one-time sale of Saskferco assets to cover off the day-to-day operations of a government, nor was it the lack of anything vaguely resembling an austerity plan to deal with what might be another year of decline.
. . . What was truly most disturbing was the complete and total lack of humility we saw from this Saskatchewan Party government, which should damn well be embarrassed by its own incompetence right now . . . What is it about running government that you don't understand?

People are angry and it's going to get nothing but worse for Brad and the boys. And I'll bet at least a few of them are thinking about that dropped lawsuit right about now.

I'm sure its all Obama's fault

I noticed this story -- KKK Planning Protest Of Ole Miss Football Game -- because the coach who brought the Riders to their last Grey Cup, Kent Austin, is now an assistant coach at Ole Miss.
Here's the disputed song, with the offensive "The South Will Rise Again" chant:

The Klu Klux Klan says it's all the "librulls" fault:

"We aren't coming there to cause problems or cause trouble," Tate said. "Trouble has already been caused by a handful at Ole Miss, including the black student body president, who wants to shape Ole Miss into yet another liberal sodomite college."

I'm not exactly sure how gay rights got into the mix, but hey, the more the merrier.
And if there is a riot -- and considering this is the last home game of the season between two bitter rivals, who would be surprised -- I'm sure the GOP and Fox News will figure out a way to blame it all on Obama.
UPDATE: How deeply ingrained is the belief that "The South will rise again" ? Read this.

Deny, deny -- and wait it out

Here's the news coverage chart from Google News , which lists 350 recent stories about Canadian complicity in torture of Afghan prisoners now posted in Canadian news outlets and in newspapers around the world:

Here are the marker stories:

A - Mackay and I, on Afghanistan
‎Nov 17, 2009‎ - CBC.ca
B - Canada complicit in torture of innocent Afghans, diplomat says
‎Nov 18, 2009‎ - Globe and Mail
C - Tories attack credibility of diplomat who blew whistle on torture
‎8 hours ago‎ - Globe and Mail
D - Tories refuse demands for inquiry into torture allegations
‎1 hour ago‎ - Toronto Star

You can see the outline of the government strategy here -- refuse to answer questions, shoot the messenger, blame the enemy, deny everything, and wait for a shiny new ball to bounce past and distract the media.

Homework

Excellent article -- How one family won the battle to ban homework. I know exactly what those parents were going through night after night with the homework overload -- the vast majority of homework is just about worthless educationally, and don't get me started on the "projects".
My kids had several excellent teachers and some positive experiences. But I have often said that the day my youngest graduated from Grade 12 and we were finished with the public school system was one of the happiest days of my life!

WATB* of the day

CTV is threatening to take its ball and go home.

Canada’s largest private broadcaster, CTV, said it would pull its signal or block out popular programs unless it can agree on a new financial deal with cable and satellite companies.

I hate this kind of bullying pseudo-blackmail stuff from a company like CTV, which has had 40 years of national TV advertising revenues.
My reaction is, OK, fine -- stop broadcasting and close up shop, if that's what you want. We'll just watch what we want online until Global and CBC can pick up your slack.
*In case you've forgotten, WATB stands for Whiny-Ass-Titty-Baby.

Numb whackiness

Bad Astronomy has a post about clearing snow off your car, and has lots of comments from people who live in areas where it doesn't snow very often. Here's the funniest:

I live in an area that sees serious snow perhaps every two or three years. This reduces people to a state of numb wackiness. Who knows what they’ll do. I’ve talked with people who won’t scrape all of the snow off their car because they don’t want to leave it in their driveway.

Shorter

Shorter Globe and Mail editorial on chosing the next Governor-General:

Here's how we can stop Harper from picking a yes-man for the next Governor-General!

The wrong decision

Ski jumping is the only Winter Olympic sport restricted to men.
And that's just fine with the Vancouver Olympic Committee and the British Columbia courts.
The BC Court of Appeal made the wrong decision when it denied the women ski jumpers:

...an earlier court decision had found that, while the women were discriminated against, in breach of the Charter, Olympic events are determined by the IOC, which is beyond the Charter's reach.
'The Canadian court system is a little bit weak if it can't stand up to the IOC and apply Canadian law,' Ms. Vonn said. 'It seems the IOC can come in here and do whatever it wants.
'I mean, it's 2009 and the Canadian courts can't even uphold their own laws about discrimination and equality. From my point of view, it's pathetic and a little bit sad.'

More than just a little bit.

Great white hope

Sounds like the Republicans may have found their great white hope.
No, not that one:

That one:

John Thune from South Dakota

In the Hudson

If you've ever said to yourself that you can't imagine what it must have been like to be in that plane that ditched in the Hudson, here is the 3D version:

Men are from Mars yada yada

From Slate Magazine's Dear Prudence -- maybe I'm just getting too cynical, but this did make me laugh:

Dear Prudence,
My husband and I recently attended a funeral. The service was so intense that someone actually fainted. I'm a nurse, so I dashed over to the man's side. He had a health issue, so 911 was called, and he was taken to the hospital. On the way home, my husband asked me about the fellow who fainted. I shared the experience of helping a stranger and talked about the funeral and the eulogy. I was pouring my heart out, but when I took a breath, he broke in and said, "I see Pedro's in the game." When I told him that he was being insensitive, he said he thought I was done and that he was ready to move on. I don't see the value in discussing the World Series while trying to process an exhausting experience. How can I let him know that it means a lot to be able to share my feelings and experiences with him?
—Strike Out
Dear Strike Out,
The funeral sounds grueling, and I understand why you are upset. However, I hope you don't think I'm insensitive when I tell you your letter made me smile because it could be titled "Men and Women, Summed Up." Look, your husband asked, he thought you were done, and, ah, Pedro just got in the game. It would be better if he now came to you and apologized for not hearing you out, but staying mad over this is just going to make both of you defensive. Your husband sounds as if he is capable of listening to you, and can do so—just not while a sporting event is being broadcast. I promise you that if a football game was on, and I called out to my husband, "I'm on fire, our daughter is giving birth, and the cat is eating the dog," he'd say something like, "Ah, yeah. That sounds great. … Be right there. Defense, you idiots! Defense!"
—Prudie

Remember

My mother was a WREN in World War II, and my aunt was a war nurse in Italy, and my father-in-law flew bombers for the RAF, my American cousin survived Vietnam, and now my children's friends are in Afghanistan -- a boy my son went to school with was buried in Saskatoon the other day.
The older I get, the more I agree with Bobby Darin -- we the people here don't want a war.

Great line of the day

Boris visualizes...:

This video (Sen. Mike Duffy calling Peter Stoffer MP, a "faker" prior to dashing off an RCMP mess dinner), and this post at Dawg's, caused me to imagine a near future headline reading "Mike Duffy appointed RCMP Commissioner".
I hope I haven't ruined anyone's dinner.

Good, bad, ugly

Good.
Bad.
Ugly.

First in the West!

The Riders do it -- go Green! Tonight they played like the champions they are.

Speaking of stupid...

Firedoglake ranted all summer and fall about how absolutely crucially important it was that US heatlh care reform include a public option.
So tonight the US Congress passed a health care reform bill which includes the public option.
Is Firedoglake happy?
Of course not.

Stupidest headline ever

The Globe and Mail asserts

As the Forces spend money and sacrifice lives in Afghanistan, Canadians have warmed to the country's new role as a warrior nation.

No, we haven't.

What the hell's that singing

Long gun registry isn't worth the trouble

The gun registry was a classic example of a well-meaning government program brought in with such unsympathetic, ignorant, arrogant, high-handedness that it became a symbol for everything western Canada dislikes about eastern Canada. And on top of that, somebody in Ottawa also had the bright idea that they could use the registry to test run for a whole lot of expensive, complicated, poorly-understood new technology.
So the Liberals ended up wasting millions of dollars to piss off millions of Canadians.
Finally, the long gun registry is on its way to being abolished and I can hardly wait. I am not opposed to a gun registry as such, but I continue to be amazed at how many people, particularly in western Canada, are.
And at the top of their lungs.
And for all the trouble it has caused, the registry seems to have accomplished very little of value for Canadians. Good riddance.

There's a lesson in this

Why did an upstate New York congressional district election matter so much? Because it pitted Sarah Palin against Newt Gingrich for the soul of the Republican party.
And guess who won?
Neither of them.
Obama took it, for the first time since the Civil War.

Another freak-out is on the way

Well, we can expect another freak-out over the latest flap on health care reform -- the "opt-in" public option instead of the "opt-out" public option.
Did you know that Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and the pharmaceutical companies were manoeuvering all along to pass a horrible health care bill? Did you know that the White House secretly plotting to screw America? Did you know that the only truly patriotic thing for the Democrats to do now is join the Republicans in voting down the health care bill? I expect to be reading all this and more next week in the Comment threads at Huffington Post, Firedoglake, Daily Kos, Americablog . . .
Its just a funny coincidence that voting down the health care bill is exactly what Republicans and the health insurance industry want to happen, isn't it?
I just posted this comment over at Digby's place and I'm repeating it here:

I hope Americans will soon realize there is no perfect health care plan -- single-payer, opt-out, opt-in, public-private mix, whatever, they all have problems and none are going to be effective in all circumstances.
In pushing for a reform bill to be approved, what Obama is actually doing here is shifting the momentum toward health care reform. But you will find that health care reform is not an event, its a process.
Canada approved medicare in the 1960s and we have spent the last 40 years fighting about it. As it turned out, it wasn't so important exactly what we passed, as that we passed SOMETHING that gave everyone a place to start.