Two remarkable events

Two remarkable events today -- International Women's Day, and my birthday! Let's celebrate:

Another Nelson moment

This Nelson moment -- Tories implore Senate to quash RESP bill -- has been brought to you by the Liberal Party of Canada.

Great line of the day

Dave at Galloping Beaver alerts us to Newsweek's report that Canadian terrorist prosecutions are excluding CIA evidence, quoting Bernard Beckhoff, public safety ministry spokesperson:

"The CSIS director has stated publicly that torture is morally repugnant and not particularly reliable. CSIS does not knowingly use information which has been obtained through torture."

I'm glad to hear it.

So what is the truth of it?

Personally, I don't care about who leaked what about whom.
What's important is the truth of it -- will either Clinton or Obama actually renegotiate NAFTA or not?
This time, will the Americans negotiate a deal they can live up to, or will we have to go through another decade of court cases with obstructive American industries blaming Canada for their marketing problems?
And for our part, will the Harper government actually negotiate with the best interests of Canada at heart, or will their basic operating principle be just the protection of industries in Conservative ridings?

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.
As Birth Pangs describes it so well, the Unborn Child Victims of Crime bill (AKA the Kicking Abortion's Ass act) is a "back-door attempt to again make women’s pregnancies public property". And tonight the pro-lifers are thrilled that the bill passed second reading.
SoCon Or Bust writes:

... the momentum is clearly moving in our direction. If not this time, it will happen in the future. It’s inevitable now.
Just give us a little crack and we’ll drive this

RIGHT THROUGH IT!
Little baby steps….easy does it.

And its not just the bloggers who hear the dogwhistle. The ordinary people who write letters to the editor all hear it too, like this one and this one.

Emery update

I was wondering what was going on with this case.
Apparently there's a deal being cooked up between the Canadian government and the Americans over Marc Emery, though it might not work out.

Marijuana crusader Marc Emery is blaming a clash of judicial cultures for delays in a plea bargain that would send him to prison briefly in the United States before serving several years in Canada. . . .
"What's at stake is the Canadian prosecutorial service doesn't think that it's possible to make a deal where a Canadian judge is compelled to do something specific, like put me in jail for a minimum length of time or set some kind of parole date," he said.. . .
A plea bargain was in the works that would see charges dropped against Williams and Rainey while Emery would plead guilty and receive a prison sentence.. . .
Emery said he finds the whole process odd.
"The Canadian government could just have me charged and that would lay the matter to rest and they wouldn't have to be concerned because some judge would come to a determination as to whether I should be incarcerated," he said.

But Canada won't charge him, because no Canadian court would convict him.
And that wouldn't satisfy the Americans at all.

Shorter

Well, given today's news, I guess we can do a Shorter Stephen Harper:

Why would anyone believe we would try to buy Chuck Cadman's vote ? It's the AMERICAN vote we're trying to influence!

Great line of the day

Dana at Galloping Beaver writes about Harper's law and order obsession:

There are some who understand just how much the Harperites intend to legislate changes in the culture of the country.
Unfortunately none of them are sitting on the opposition benches.

Cats

From I Can Has Cheezburger, via TRex

Well, duh!

Ottawa loses Wheat Board battle

The federal government has lost a court battle over the Canadian Wheat Board.
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court ruling which said the Conservative cabinet exceeded its power when it tried to strip the wheat board of its barley monopoly.

Of course they lost -- the legislation is quite clear that if Ottawa wants to take the barley monopoly away from the Wheat Board they have to do it in Parliament, not by just a Cabinet order.
Just one more reason not to elect a Harper majority government.

Hot stuff

When I saw this story, I thought of this song.

Shorter

Shorter Brian Mulroney:

I'll do absolutely anything to clear my name...except tell anyone what actually happened.

Great line of the day

Tbogg, talking about Ralph Nader running for president again:

Ralph Nader is like Abe Vigoda; if people don't hear from him every once in awhile, they think he's dead.

Strange bedfellows

The sympathetic tone of some of the coverage about the Anglican church rift is hard to believe.
These so-called Christians, however personable and charming and soft-spoken are bigots, using the cover of religion to inflate their hateful prejudices into some kind of divine mission.
Just like Fred Phelps has done.
And when you find yourself on the same page as Fred Phelps -- well now, I would consider that as a pretty clear sign from God that you'd better reconsider.

Great line of the day

From James Wolcott, talking about how sexism is still alive and well among privileged white men:

...underneath the trash talk is the even more unattractive noise of white men whining because things aren't like they used to be. No, they are not. This news should have reached you by now and soaked in. Things haven't been like they used to be for about thirty years now, hell, maybe forty. So set your inner Pat Buchanan free in that patchy stretch of woods along the interstate and accept the reality of women's equality without being such a bullying baby about it.

Emphasis mine.
I used to tolerate it when older men said they just couldn't deal with women as equals, but I don't anymore. Iron this, buddy!