House of cards

George Price

Tom Levenson writes about the Canadian boy who was the last soldier one of the last soldiers to die in World War I:

There was one incident that captured the essence of war on the western front, the distillation of its arbitrary violence. At two minutes to eleven in the vicinity of Mons a Canadian private named George Price was hit by a sniper’s bullet. He died instantly. The man who killed him remains unknown. That man made a choice. He was a marksman, a skilled soldier. He had just moments remaining in which it was legal for him to kill. There was no need to fire, no purpose, and some risk at least to himself and any comrades near him. If he waited until eleven, and then put his gun down, the only consequence would be that a young stranger would go home. Instead, the shot rang out. Two minutes ticked past. The war ended. George Price lay dead.

What a pointless, stupid war that was.

UPDATE: Corrected.

G20 protests are the story that just won't die

The Dominion provides the latest summary of the G20 protesters who are still facing charges or in jail:

“I think it’s rare for this much resources and energy to be put into so vehemently going after people who are allegedly guilty of nothing more than vandalism,” said Jonah Hundert.

Yes, that's for sure. The hearings being held by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and National Union of Public and General Employees in Toronto are now getting some coverage, even in the National Post.

I'm shocked! SHOCKED!

Canada won't be leaving Afghanistan after all. Oh, what a big surprise.

Disappearing the disappeared

The Native Women's Association of Canada Sisters In Spirit campaign -- set up several years ago by the federal Liberals -- has apparently hurt the delicate fee-fees of the Harper Conservatives, the RCMP and police departments.
What did they do? They collected data and raised public awareness about the 582 missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada.
This made police look bad. Very bad. All these women disappearing year after year after year, and police departments across the nation greeting the news with a collective yawn.
What to do? Well, Allison reports the Conservatives have now found millions of dollars to set up a National Police Support Centre for Missing Persons. But they're not going to fund the NWAC anymore unless they drop the "Sisters in Spirit" name and stop maintaining their database.
Way to solve the problem guys -- if nobody knows about it, then it isn't a problem anymore!
Oh, wait, we tried that already, didn't we?
Quite honestly, the Harper Conservatives just make me sick -- taking a profoundly important initiative that has great significance to Aboriginal families across the country, twisting it to advance their own agenda, then trashing it to make it all go away.
Trying to make it disappear just like all those women have disappeared.
And lets also keep a wary eye on that Conservative idea that they're going to make "amendments to the Criminal Code to streamline the warrants application process where wiretaps are required in missing person cases". Thin edge of the wedge and all that...

Fool me once

I was going to post something about how offensive it was to hear Rob Ford boasting about the dirty tricks he used to become mayor of Toronto, but now I don't have to because Rev Paperboy has said everything that needs to be said:

...people who like to brag about how dirty they played and how low they stooped will eventually find that the only people impressed are other shitheels and grifters ...
Time and Karma will not be kind to Rob Ford and his campaign team and hubris will eventually prove their undoing. Nobody likes a sore loser, but most of us hate a bad winner just as much.

Yes, because the take-away message from this sorry incident is that Ford thinks the people of Toronto are stupid.
Nice mayor you've got there, guys!

More G20 stories

More G20 stories are trickling out.
Today's Friday document dump revealed more about G20 costs. Greg Elmer twitters "best expense so far: $17,482.50 for six shredders."
This week we found out that the police who removed their name tags because they were ashamed about what they did are actually being disciplined. Not, of course, much...

I guess kicking people in the face can jar loose your nametag -- who knew?
We also found out that the reason charges are being dropped against G20 protesters is due to "legal technicalities" -- yeah, like no evidence. Funny how that happens.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is finally going to hold some hearings next week about what happened and will produce a report in January.
The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP is also opening an investigation into, among other things "whether the Mounties were involved in infiltration and surveillance of individuals and groups before and during the summits."
The Globe and Mail has a big story on Saturday about some of the innocent people who were trapped and tormented by police.
The Toronto Star has lifted the rock under which the Toronto Special Investigations Unit has been hiding, and now we're watching what is scuttling out.
But Alex Hundert was in jail for Thanksgiving and will be in jail for Remembrance Day.
God, what a disaster the G8/G20 was for thousands of Canadians. Chris Selley writes:

the optics are similar in both the G20 and David Chen cases: Law-breakers (window-smashers, produce-snatchers) appear to have free reign; law-abiders (grocers, peaceful protesters) take it on the chin.

Joke

From last night's Daily Show:

The doorbell rings and the guy opens it to find a snail on his front step.
The snail says "I'm selling magazine subscriptions and ..."
The guy immediately kicks him off the step.
Two years later, the doorbell rings again.
"What the f**k was that all about?" asks the snail.

Sir Galahad

In Canada, it is often less difficult and certainly less contentious to run for party leadership from outside the party rather than from inside it.
Two examples --John Turner and Brian Mulroney, who built their campaign organizations and wrote their speeches while lunching at their clubs rather than scarfing a sandwich in the Parliamentary dining room and running back to the House for a vote. They did not have to endure the insular hothouse Ottawa atmosphere, the sneers of the press gallery, and the Cabinet back-stabbing that so damaged Paul Martin's relationship with Chretien and his supporters over that endless last year of Chretien's prime ministership.
So when we wonder why Jim Prentice is leaving now, perhaps it is because he expects the Conservatives will be looking for a White Knight someday soon.

Great line of the day

Tbogg on Twitter:

25% of the electorate is 65+ and they want the government to stop spending. Also they would like their benefits checks earlier in the month.

Two surprises

Both welcome: Campbell resigning and the Harper Conservatives turning down the BHP Billingon takeover of the Potash Corporation.
I don't think anybody in Saskatchewan believed that Brad Wall was going to succeed. But he did. And he turned himself into a national political leader in the process.

Lessons learned

Based on what I am already reading, the lessons that progressive bloggers, Democrats, conservative bloggers, Republicans, Fox News and the Teapartiers will take away from the American election results is that the American people want them to continue doing exactly what they were already doing before, only more so.
There, that was easy.

Its a win-win

The Democrats are going to be so happy on Tuesday.
After a four-year national nightmare of productive and progressive legislative sessions, they're going to lose control of the House of Representatives on Tuesday. This means they can breathe a sign of relief because they won't be responsible anymore for how bad things are.
And with any luck, the Dems will retain the Senate, so then the Republicans won't have to accept any responsibility either for doing anything whatsoever about how bad things are.
Win-win.
Except, of course, for the American people, but when did Washington care about them anyway?

What's with the Globe and Mail?

Can anybody make sense of what the Globe and Mail is doing with its newspaper these days?
On the web, the newspaper makes sense -- a perfectly logical line up of the major stories of the day, today beginning with the UAE terror plot.
The print version of the paper? Different story. Its impossible to tell what the major news story of the day is -- each department apparently gets to throw a headline onto the front page, and some graphic artist just fits them together as best she can.

Cartoon of the day

From the Globe and Mail: