Deep blue sea

Between the devil of another disastrous civilian bloodbath and the deep blue sea of US involvement in another Middle-East war, the Obama administration has finally dived in up to their necks.
Of course, they should have realized a week ago that they were going to have to make this decision, because Qaddafi and his son are megalomaniacs. But they were probably hoping against hope that the army would flip like they did in Egypt. No such luck this time. Wishful thinking is not a foreign policy, as much as we would all like it to be.
Booman says

Don't dick around with no-drive zones and military advisers. Either stay out of it entirely, or go get the bastard and put him in the Hague.

A new Simon's Cat video

50

It appears that 50 heroic nuclear technicians are standing between Japan and catastrophe.

A small crew of technicians, braving radiation and fire, became the only people remaining at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station on Tuesday...
Tokyo Electric Power, the plant’s operator, has said almost nothing at all about the workers, including how long a worker is expected to endure exposure [to radiation.]
The few details Tokyo Electric has made available paint a dire picture. Five workers have died since the quake and 22 more have been injured for various reasons, while two are missing. One worker was hospitalized after suddenly grasping his chest and finding himself unable to stand, and another needed treatment after receiving a blast of radiation near a damaged reactor. Eleven workers were injured in a hydrogen explosion at reactor No. 3.
Nuclear reactor operators say that their profession is typified by the same kind of esprit de corps found among firefighters and elite military units. Lunchroom conversations at reactors frequently turn to what operators would do in a severe emergency.
The consensus is always that they would warn their families to flee before staying at their posts to the end, said Michael Friedlander, a former senior operator at three American power plants...

The workers were withdrawn for a time Wednesday but are apparently now back at it.

Sounds familiar

As they raced to avert a potential nuclear catastrophe, Japanese officials said Tuesday that they were considering a risky plan to spray water from a helicopter to prevent new fires in a pool of spent fuel at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

The Official Plan from the Japan nuclear disaster is sounding more and more like BP's fill it up with junk plan from last May and we know how well that worked out.

$26 million

All those hundreds of Economic Action Plan ads have cost us $26 million.
And I don't think that even counts all those other federal ads we're also seeing, like the lawyer ads from Immigration Canada and the eggshell baby Health Canada ads.
Steve V says

really this is bullshit so pungent my nose hairs are burning.

Tsunami impact

ABC News Australia has a series of unique photos showing the before-and-after of the Japanese tsunami.
Here is one good news story about a man rescued at sea after being swept away by the tsunami.
And here's a chilling photo:

Tweet of the day

If you live in Wisconsin, don't forget to set your clock back 50 years this weekend.

Equals

Thanks, Boris

Unless the Libyan rebels get help, this isn't going to end well

They're driving to battle in pickup trucks.
I'm no military strategist, but it doesn't look like these rebel "soldiers" know what they're doing militarily.
Juan Cole provides the latest updates of how far the rebels are advancing -- best case, they link up with other rebels closer to Tripoli; worst case, it appears Gaddafi could use his remaining air force to attack rebel positions now that a sandstorm is over.
NATO and the UN may soon have a decision to make.

Shake the dust

Yes, I know there's a little whiff of the Deteriorata about this, but its still pretty neat:

Shake the dust from Anis Mojgani on Vimeo.

Complete poem is here

Do not let a moment go by that doesn't remind you that your heart beats 900 times a day and that there are enough gallons of blood to make you an ocean.
Do not settle for letting these waves settle and the dust to collect in your veins.

Thanks, Crystal.

Harper Youth

Analyzing last night's bizarre dissing of Ignatieff at a supposedly non-partisan event, Steve V describes the Harper staff:

we are dealing with a classless, childish, hyper-partisan bunch of zealots, anything is possible, and they PROVED IT AGAIN LAST NIGHT!

Whatever happened to . . . Charlie Sheen?

I know, I know, with our busy lives, its just too easy to lose track of what some of those less-than-major Hollywood celebrities are doing these days.
So if you've been wondering where Charlie Sheen has been hiding this last while, here's just the article you need to bring you up to date.

They'll learn eventually

It took a few years, but once the people of Canada all began to benefit from universal medicare in the 1960s, following its introduction in Saskatchewan, a curious effect began to be noticed in elections across the country -- conservative parties couldn't get elected anymore unless they stopped yapping about dismantling it.
Republicans are going to experience the same thing, sooner or later. Right now lots of Republican governors have been yapping about how they're going to get rid of Obamacare.
They'll learn.

Great line of the day

The federal appeals court finds against the Harper Conservative financing flim-flam and Boris says:

Ya can't prorogue yer way out of this one, Stevo.

G20 gag reflex

With publication of CCLA/NUPGE report, even the National Post has reached the limit of its gag reflex and is now calling for a public inquiry into the G20 police riot:

Police tactics at the G20 so demonstrably exceeded the threat posed by protesters that a comprehensive public investigation is warranted.

The Ottawa Citizen echoes the call:

The new report adds weight to the argument that the abuses by security forces outside the summit were built into the system, not just the result of a few officers misunderstanding the rules or going rogue.
"Given the scope and severity of the violations of rights that occurred during the G20 it is difficult to view this situation as anything other than a failure of policy and training," the report says.
And that sums up why a thorough inquiry is needed.

Oh, and we can no longer say that not a single person has been convicted following the G20 protests - an inept career criminal who was not part of either the Black Bloc or any protest group has now been convicted of setting one of the two police car fires.