Arrogant and cruel

It is, in my opinion, both arrogant and cruel for Corrections Canada to ban smoking for prisoners. I can understand the indoor air quality issues, but outdoors too?
It's just mean.

I hadn't thought of it this way before

Howard Dean on Meet the Press describes how the Democratic Party will heal itself:

I’m not the most important person in terms of bringing the party together. The most important person is the person who doesn’t win the nomination. Because I can remember when I lost to John Kerry, I had to go out and convince my supporters, it took me about 3 months, that they needed to support Sen. Kerry. I endorsed him, I campaigned for him, I went to all the college campuses and that’s what the person who doesn’t win this with 49% of the delegate is going to have to do keep the party together.

I just hope Hillary, and Bill, are getting this message.

Greasing the skids

I'm speculating, with no evidence at all except patterns of past behaviour, that the recent sabre-rattling against Iran is just to grease the skids for the confirmation hearings for The Man Called Petraeus (copyright Digby) not to mention trying to support McSame's pathetic warmongering
But, of course, I could be wrong.
Did you know they found actual guns and other scary things in Iraq that were marked "Made in Iran and endorsed by the Iran Government for use exclusively in Iraq or Israel"? Really and for true!

I try to support unions, but really!

Surprise transit strike hits Toronto:

Thousands of people headed to work or planning other trips were forced to walk, call cabs or scramble to find other ways to get around after the 9,000 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union walked out at midnight, just hours after rejecting a tentative contract proposal Friday night.

And then the union leadership blames the public for this wildcat walkout:

Union leader Bob Kinnear said he had no choice but to set aside a promise to give 48 hours notice of a walkout out of concern for the safety of his members given some "irrational members of the public."

If he thinks the Toronto retail workers and shoppers who were stranded this morning hated the transit workers before, just wait until he sees what they'll be dealing with after they go back to work.

Major leagues

So the threats didn't work and lawsuits didn't work and spinning didn't work and now the Conservatives think whining for sympathy will get Elections Canada off their backs.

...flak-jacket-clad RCMP officers storming in and copying everything . . . most of his staff is very young, the majority under 30. The official said staffers were petrified . . . RCMP at first knocked on the door and then “pushed their way in.”

Oh, cry me a river. If you don't like politics, go work for a florist.
What the Conservatives don't seem to grasp is that they're no longer playing in the bush leagues. Elections Canada is immune to bullying because they have spent the last 20 years duking it out with the federal Liberal Party.
Both sides in that battle knew that concocting and ferreting out schemes to subvert election rules is the way the game is played. I would imagine that Elections Canada is somewhat amazed that the Conservatives continue to fight a losing battle instead of quietly 'fessing up and moving on'

UPDATE: Dave says its as though they never expanded their view beyond grade four.

Get used to it

Yes, its a pretty thought:

"It's the right of kids to play in the grass .. without compromising their health."

But the reality in Ontario will be yards full of dandelions and crabgrass and chickweed and thistles, not grass.

Just say no

Sounds like it was a badge of shame in the Ottawa press gallery to be invited to this little spin session about the Elections Canada raid:

On Sunday, high-ranking Conservative officials, including campaign director Doug Finley, chief media spokesman Ryan Sparrow and party lawyer Paul Lepsoe held briefings for hand-picked journalists in a downtown hotel room in an effort to shape the emerging story ahead of the warrant's release.
When other reporters learned of the briefing, the officials switched the encounter from the Lord Elgin hotel two blocks west to the Sheraton.
That effort proved fruitless. The uninvited reporters quickly learned of the new location and gathered in the hallway outside the meeting room. Sparrow opened and quickly closed the door on the prying newcomers.
"This is a private meeting," he repeatedly told the CBC's Keith Boag.
Those who managed to get inside the door were handed a sheaf of documents and a CD-ROM containing the warrant and affidavit material.
Sources say the accompanying spin session touched on most of the same points the party has been making since the raid.
But none of the officials would repeat their lines in public when they emerged from the room to be greeted by reporters who weren't on their guest list.
Instead they scurried for a nearby exit and beat a hasty retreat down the fire stairs . . . The Canadian Press, the CBC, Maclean's, the Globe and Mail and the Halifax Chronicle Herald were among those who were not invited to the party's briefing.

The most prominent ones not listed are CTV and the National Post.

Great post of the day

Lance Mannion hits the nail right on the head -- first, about why Hillary inspires such diffidence:

The Insiders think that McCain and Clinton and Obama are running for the job of National Best Drinking Buddy and they've already decided McCain's the right man for that job, emphasis on man because who wants to drink with a woman you can't go to bed with or tell your troubles to? Oh sure, Hillary will listen to you tell her your troubles, but then she'll have suggestions about what to do about those troubles. When the Insiders complain that Hillary reminds them of their first wives or of a schoolteacher or of whatever other gynophobic stereotype bubbles up out of the parts of their distressed psyches where their castration complexes lurk, they are putting their finger right on her problem as they see it. She doesn't want to hear how misunderstood you think you are, she wants you to take out the trash right now, thanks, she wants you to buckle down and do your homework.

Then about why Democrats can't get fair and balanced treatment from the so-called Librull press:

Obama is furious that it took Gibson and Stephanopoulos forty-five minutes to get around to asking their first substantive question about policy, about what Clinton and Obama would actually do if they get to the White House. But Gibson and Stephanopoulos probably resent the fact that they had to bring up policy at all.
The Insiders hate the Democrats because the Democrats actually plan to do things. And they want to talk about the things they want to do and how they plan to do them. So in order to cover a Democrat, journalists have to be able to keep up with discussions of policy and the intricacies of government, and most of our Journalistic Elite can't do this.
They are too lazy or too dumb or too drunk or too full of themselves to enjoy paying someone else the respect of listening to their ideas and taking them seriously.
And this is where Democrats keep making their bloomer.
They keep expecting the likes of Gibson and Stephanopoulos to take things like the future of the country seriously. They keep expecting them to pay attention. They keep expecting them to have done their homework. And when it turns out that the Insiders are content to be lazy and dumb and vain and foolish, they can't hide their disgust and their disdain.
The Insiders know that Al Gore and John Kerry and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama know they are clowns. It is very difficult to suffer fools gladly. Gore and Obama aren't good at that all. Kerry and Clinton are only marginally better.

Iron this, buddy! Part 2

Lambert highlights the increasing hysteria of Clinton Derangement Syndrome, which has reached the point that Obama supporters think their candidate's message of inclusiveness gives them such moral superiority that they can drum Hillary supporters out of the Democratic party -- Jerome Armstrong describes them as "tiny tent democrats".
It's off-putting, isn't it, to see them acting like 'unbelievers' are 'the enemy'. Especially when their candidate, Barak Obama, didn't exactly turn in an outstanding performance in the ABC debate -- a fact noted even by Jon Stewart, who did a mash of Obama's verbal stumbles and stutters.
The conventional wisdom about the ABC debate is that Obama was being pestered with picayune right-wing talking points because he is the frontrunner. But Hillary has been pestered by the right wing for 20 years, and she just laughs it off -- absolutely the only way to deal with it. And she doesn't apologize for laughing, either. I was amazed that Obama didn't seem to have quick, firm, dismissive answers to this crap.
Weather Underground? Get real. Even 40 years ago the Weather Underground was ridiculous.
Maybe if the Republicans work at it they can gin up an Obama 'connection' to those sneaky Harlem Globetrotters too!
But getting back to my point with this post -- at its heart, I wonder if a certain amount of good old-fashioned sexism is jump-starting this anti-Hillary atmosphere.
And then there are the attacks on Hillary Clinton by the white, middle-aged men who pretend to be journalists on American TV. Personally, I can't even stand to watch Keith Olbermann anymore. Seeing this stuff listed all in one place by Eric Boehlert is quite striking:

... Mike Barnicle on MSNBC said Clinton "look[ed] like everyone's first wife standing outside a probate court." ... Bill Kristol on Fox News said that among the only people supporting Hillary Clinton were white women, and "[w]hite women are a problem, that's, you know -- we all live with that." ... CNN's Jack Cafferty likened Clinton to "a scolding mother, talking down to a child." ... Fox News' Neil Cavuto suggested Clinton was "trying to run away from this tough, kind of bitchy image." ... MSNBC's Tucker Carlson announced that "when [Clinton] comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs."... Christopher Hitchens on CNBC described Clinton as being "sort of alternately soppy and bitchy.'"

Then there is Chris Matthews, who is in a class by himself:

- featured a Photoshopped image of Clinton sporting "She Devil" horns while discussing Republican efforts to demonize her;
- repeatedly likened Clinton to "Nurse Ratched," the scheming, heartless character from the mental hospital drama One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest;
- described her laugh as a "cackle," suggested she was "anti-male," "witchy," and was on a "short ... leash";
- referred to Clinton as "Madame Defarge" and described male politicians who endorsed Clinton as "castratos in the eunuch chorus";
- compared Clinton to a "strip-teaser," wondered whether she was "a convincing mom," referred to Clinton's "cold eyes" and the "cold look" she supposedly gives people;
- claimed that "some men" say Clinton's voice sounds like "fingernails on a blackboard."

Let's not forget David Schuster's awful "pimped out" remark -- as though Hillary is turning Chelsea into a hooker by having her work for the campaign. Had it ever crossed anyone's mind to describe Mary Cheney or Jenna Bush that way?
Well, I think they've forgotten -- when women are pissed on, we get pissed off.
What turned the corner for Hillary in one of the early primaries was when a bunch of yahoos showed up at her campaign stops and yelled at her to shut up and iron their shirts. These loud-mouthed louts ensured that women came out to vote for Hillary.
And this could happen again.

UPDATE: Great minds think alike.

I love the internets

Here's a fascinating article about how human beings create language:

All human beings, Bickerton argues, are born with a sense of grammar, a universal language template. Words can vary from place to place and are bound only by the limits of human creativity and the larynx. But grammar is innate.

Well, maybe, but I wouldn't be so sure about adjectival nouns.
And did you ever wonder about the role of Mercutio in the play Romeo and Juliet? Me neither, but here's Lance Mannion's entertaining explanation:

Mercutio is the one character in the play who recognizes that they are all trapped within a play.

And aren't we all.

Great post of the day

Dennis Perrin writes about Shit Kicker Karma:

. . . While working as a cleaner, I continued my conversations with blue-collar whites, and the thing that always mystified me was their belief that by owning guns, they could stave off the government if necessary. This is a gun culture conceit that has no basis in reality. The very militarization that rednecks revere is an essential part of the American police apparatus. When someone would talk shit about blasting federal agents, I'd remind them of Waco. The Branch Davidians fought off an ATF assault, killing four agents and wounding 16. Once that happened, their death sentence was secured. There was simply no chance that a bunch of Christian fanatics were getting away with that, the Second and Fourth Amendments be damned. The Branch Davidians were gassed, burned alive, shot up, and bulldozed into the charred earth. So much for fightin' The Man.
A few of these guys would scoff at my Waco example, saying that they were better shots than the Branch Davidians. But most would fall silent and shake their heads, their fantasies about armed resistance reinforcing their powerlessness, which in turn made their fantasies even more necessary. Bitter? Hell, that's the least of it.

Via Wolcott.

Never mind

Remember all the scary visuals and exciting uproar and all-night vigils and breathless reporting when our very own home grown terrorist cell was arrested? Remember the 400 heavily armed police raiding dozens of homes? Remember the worldwide coverage?
Now, two years later, well, never mind:

. . . the federal government is now admitting that it never had a serious case against almost half of the men and youths charged two years ago. . . . Back in June 2006, the overriding sentiment in government and media was that a dangerous attack had been narrowly avoided. The allegations – that Canadian Muslim extremists were planning to behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper, seize MPs and blow up the CBC – seemed unbelievable. But in a post-9/11 world, the unbelievable had, for many, a ring of truth. . .
Jamal . . . may indeed be a critic of Canadian foreign policy. But it seems that he is not a terrorist ideologue. . . . The alleged terror training camp turned out to be a hapless adventure in the rain, one where participants spent much of their time in a local doughnut shop and where the ammunition for target practice was apparently provided by one of two paid RCMP informers. As for the alleged plot to behead Harper, it was apparently derailed because the plotters didn't know how to get to Parliament Hill. Nor, it seems (according to material released by the Crown), were they exactly sure who the Prime Minister was. . .

I think I'm finally beginning to understand the phrase, "there's no 'there' there."

Shortsighted and cheap, too

So, not only is the Sask Party making decisions based on ideology rather than business sense but they're also proving themselves cheapskates and short-sighted ones to boot.
The sensible thing to do with a windfall in land sale profits is to use it for long-term investments in Saskatchewan families through programs like the Station 20 West and the children's dental care program, or toward long-term investments in Saskatchewan infrastructure, through building bridges and improving the highways -- or at least use it to leverage private investments in economic development like the PA mill.
But no, Brad and the boys would rather fritter it away by letting municipalities use it to cover this spring's municipal budget increases.
And next year, when this provincial money is long gone, the mill rate increases will be real whoppers. Sigh.

Robot love

Chet alerts us to the latest fad, sex with robots -- Three Laws indeed!
But I loved the Comments:

“I don’t want anyone thinking we’re Robosexuals, so if anyone asks, you’re my debugger.”

Oh come on, everyone knows that robots are total slut kittens. Raise your hand if you have not fantasized about having sex with a robot.

I believe it was Scott Adams who said that sex and money are the two sources of motivation in the human male; therefore, when virtual reality becomes cheaper than dating, society is doomed.
I was kind hoping for the gay bomb, but whatever gets the job done.

“Not tonight, dear. I have a short circuit.”

Looking the other way?

So George Bush and Cheney and Rice and Rumsfeld all endorsed torture of prisoners of war and the major American media aren/t covering it. Instead, today's talk shows will be chattering about why Barak Obama drinks orange juice.
But doing a Google search, its interesting to note how some smaller media outlets are picking up on the torture story.
Like the Brattleboro Reformer:

The damage this administration has done to human rights and the rule of law is so immense that this nation will be paying a steep price for it at home and abroad for decades to come.

The Tuscaloosa News writes that Bush and the staff should be investigated for use of torture:

We thought the record of the Bush administration's disregard for domestic and international laws couldn't get any worse. Unfortunately, that was wishful thinking.

The Wicheta Eagle writes:

... some of the principals understood the moral swamp into which they were wading.
"Why are we talking about this in the White House?" Ashcroft is quoted as saying at one meeting. "History will not judge this kindly."
Nor will history judge the American people kindly if we look the other way.

Funny, isn't it, that "looking the other way" was also charged against the German people at the end of World War Two, with all sorts of pious declarations at the time that the allied democracies wouldn't ever do that.
Some Americans, at least, are trying not to.