Flu

Sorry for the lack of posts -- I've had a horrible flu since Wednesday and finally starting to feel human again tonight, sort of anyway.
More soon.

Good news

One more reason to hope that health care reform in the States is approved.

Other shoe

Last week Atrios made this perceptive observation

I'm really not sure how we got from we don't torture, to that torture stuff we do isn't torture, to anyone who opposes torture hates America. Apparently that's where we are.

I have no doubt that a similar pushback on Canada's Afghanistan outrage will be coming as soon as the Cons can move the dialog from defense to offense. I think we're already seeing the beginning of it when Harper implies that continued questions from the Liberals and NDP on what the Cons knew about prisoner toture is acutally an attack on the public service.

Anonymous sources

Glennzilla has a great post about anonymity in journalism and why it is bad journalism. Here's the paragraph which should be framed and posted on every newsroom's wall:

In very limited circumstances, anonymity is valuable and justified (e.g., when someone is risking something substantial to expose concealed wrongdoing of serious public interest). But promiscuous, unjustified anonymity -- which pervades the establishment press -- is the linchpin of most bad, credibility-destroying reporting. It enables government officials and others to lie to the public with impunity or manipulate them with propaganda, using eager reporters as both their megaphone and shield. It is the weapon of choice for reporters eager to serve as loyal message-carriers and royal court gossip columnists. It preserves and bolsters the culture of secrecy that dominates Washington -- exactly the opposite of what a real journalist, by definition, would seek to accomplish . . . . In sum, petty or otherwise unjustified uses of anonymity is the hallmark of the power-worshiping, dishonest, unreliable reporter . . . . As Izzy Stone put it about the Vietnam War: "The process of brain-washing the public starts with off-the-record briefings for newspapermen. . . ."

Asteroid-denial

So now those scientist guys think an asteroid killed the dinosaurs.
But what do they know anyway?
'Cause some guy sent some other guy an email or something, so of course that proves Gary Larson is right after all:

Another great week for the Cons

First they are embarrased into dropping the national anthem pander
And we find out they have now formented an international scandal over their ham-fisted decision-making at the Rights & Democracy. (A story Dawg has been doing a brilliant job in covering, by the way.)
Finally we find out that Finance Minister Flaherty spent $9,000 on a government jet -- one way -- so he can go to London, Ontario for a photo op in Tim Hortons to tell Canadians we have to tighten our belts.
And his office piously tells reporters that of course Flaherty is taking an $800 commercial flight back to Ottawa -- while apparently the jet flies back, for another $9,000, empty.
Gee, Jim, please don't try to save us any more money, we can't afford it.

Surprise!

All of a sudden, we find out Saskatchewan owes the potash companies $200 million dollars.
The Jurist concludes thst Saskatchewan Finance Minister Rob Gantefoer is either lying or incompetent.
I vote for all of the above.
And I'll bet Wall is rueing the day he abandoned the resource equalization lawsuit.

Caught

How stupid does Citizenship and Immigration minister Jason Kenney think Canadians are?

Mr. Kenney told the group that gay rights had been "overlooked" when the [citizenship]guide was being prepared. . . .

Liar

Canadian flag bearer

The huge flag that the Canadian team carried around after their win on Sunday belonged to a superfan from Regina Dave Ash

“I was stunned. We'd just won the gold medal, and they used my flag as a symbol of what they'd won,” said the 55-year-old Regina tour operator. “It was incredible.”

Thirty years ago Ash also invented the Rider's mascot, Gainer the Gopher.

Crosby's Wikipedia entry hacked by bears

TBogg supplies this screen shot of Crosby's Wikipedia entry from Sunday afternoon.
It describes his winning goal and then someone added:

Then a pack of wild bears stormed onto the ice and ripped him apart.

but the editors have taken it out -- party poopers!

Some memories of Vancouver 2010

Triumph.


Despair.


Cheering.


Protest.


Argyle.


Disaster.


Uppity.


Smart.


And I want one of those flying moose.

The golden moment

It will be the question that defines a generation:

where were you when Crosby scored?

And the medal in pearl clutching goes to...

What is with American reporters? Ever since the "wardrobe malfunction" they act like a bunch of blue-nosed church ladies, while the rest of the world just laughs at them.
First they flip out about the "scandal" of Scotty Lago and his medals party:

...photos surfaced in the media that showed the 22-year-old athlete hanging his bronze medal over his groin area . . .
Another photo reportedly shows a woman kissing the medal on a public street.

On a public street!!! OMG ! Here's what all the fuss was about:

Oh, the horror! How dare a 22-year-old athlete get it on with a girl!
The US media had spoken, so of course this medal-winning athlete had to creep home in disgrace.
But then the US reporters seemed to think that everybody else should be just as scandalized as they were by athlete behaviour.
They couldn't stop talking about Jon Montgomery carrying a mug of beer around Whistler

He even drank from it, on camera!
And then the IOC was supposedly scandalized by the Canadian women drinking beer and smoking cigars after their gold medal win:

But they weren't, actually. The only people screaming OMG! was the American media. As for the rest of us, Christie Blatchford said it best:

Nothing celebrates that spirit better, or more spits in the face of Big Brother, than a cigar enjoyed on the ice.

Great line of the day

From John Cole summarizes recent American republicanism:

an accumulation and defense of wealth dishonorably gained and then wasted.

I hope that will never describe Canadian conservatism.

Four-medal Friday

Two golds and bronze in short track, and silver in curling.
Plus the hockey team pulled together and pulled it off!
And you know, I had been wondering about whether the Canadian men were going to survive in short track, where the dominant skaters seem to have to be just a little bit dirty to win, enough to win without getting caught. It seemed like our Canadians were just too nice.
But the relay team played it very smart -- they secretly devised a new strategy yesterday, which they called Operation Cobra, to change their skating pattern at the end of the race:

Teammate Guillaume Bastille said the hand movement the team made, holding their right hands in the shape of a snake, was a signal that their plan, called Operation Cobra, worked.
Charles Hamelin said the team’s strategy gave them confidence going into the relay. “Our strategy was called ‘Operation Cobra’ which was where François-Louis (Tremblay) had one minute and ten seconds rest before he did the last two laps,” said Hamelin after the race. “And the last two laps were very good.”

They didn't lose as much time in handovers either, as the other teams were bound to do -- plus f**king with their minds, in a nice way.
And it worked -- they won!