It's another Festivus miracle!

Barak Obama got Bruce Springsteen to talk to Chris Christie.

Four more years

"Who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery?"

New bill refines rules on masks in unlawful protests:

“In my experience when someone shows up at protest with mask, their intentions are violent,” [Canadian Police Association president Tom Stamatakis] said. “There is no good legitimate reason for someone to protest peacefully and show up wearing a mask.”

Nor is there any reason for police to remove their badges during a protest, either.  But this happened at the G20, and then they were protected by the cone of silence.
Irwin Colter seems to think the bill is just aimed at arresting violent protesters.  Actually, the idea is to stop people from attending a protest in the first place.  And a decade from now, chances are the Supreme Court will find pre-emptive arrest for how someone is dressed is unconstitutional.

*The title of this post is a quote from The Masque of the Red Death which somehow seems appropriate, I thought.

Asymmetric despair

"Asymmetric warfare" is guerilla war between weak and strong.
The terrible Ashley Smith video is asymmetric despair -- she was so weak, and her captors so strong. Maybe the only way to express her despair was to abuse her own body, to disassociate from herself.
No wonder Corrections Canada didn't want us to see this child's pathetic, doomed fight against riot-geared guards and cold-hearted medical staff. Dr. Dawg writes:

Something is rotten and festering in Canada’s prison system. God knows how many other young people are presently being brutalized and driven to suicide by incompetence and cruelty as I write this.
“Don’t let them get away with it,” said Julian Falconer, the Smith family’s lawyer, to the coroner. Amen to that.

Speaking of hobgoblins

If "foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" then we shouldn't be expecting any consistency from the way the Harper Cons are handling gun licensing and registration these days:

Conservatives said the registry was ineffective because it targeted “law-abiding hunters, farmers and sport shooters” and missed the criminals who would never register anyway.
They also argued the registry information was so incomplete and out of date that it was useless for tracing guns.
Yet the same Conservative government that killed the registry recently brought in new regulations to ensure that as of December, all firearms have unique serial number markings.
A release from the Public Safety department earlier this month said serial numbers on guns “contribute to public safety, by facilitating law enforcement investigations when the markings can be linked to information on the last legal owner of the firearm.”
In short, a government that long complained over the cost of Liberal gun control laws has left the most expensive element in place, while stripping out a weapons database that — by its own logic — appears to have some use.

But Canada has learned that the last thing we can expect from the Harper Cons is logical decision-making.

Great line of the day

From Nancy Nall:

Maybe Dave Barry is right -- as we get older, our brains fill up with song lyrics and there’s no room for anything else.

These fans better watch it.

I think therefore I am

Just heard the news that a beluga whale can speak, or at least imitate a human voice.
Maybe Gary Larson wasn't so far wrong after all:

He's kidding, right?

Did the Onion start a Canadian edition?
Changes to parliamentary pension plan ‘cowardly,’ MP says:

Edmonton MP Peter Goldring, a former Conservative caucus member, said the hefty increase in contributions will dramatically reduce take-home pay for MPs who earn $157,731 in base salary, and ultimately make it far more difficult to attract top quality politicians.

Like him, I suppose.
Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out, Pete.

Funny, isn't it

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says planned changes to the pension plan for members of Parliament won’t take effect until after the next election, noting it would not be fair to change the rules during the current term.

Funny, isn't it how Conservatives believe that it would be outrageous to change MP pensions retroactively, but civil servants, airline pilots, and everybody else -- even football referees -- are just supposed to suck it up.

They both could have died

What is the matter in Ottawa?
No, I don't mean in that big brown building on the banks of the river.
I mean in the city of Ottawa itself, with its so-called "justice" system.
The most recent horrible story is about jail staff ignoring a woman's screams during a breech birth. Both mother and baby could have died on the isolation cell floor while the pseudo-nurses at the jail were self-righteously assuring themselves she was faking.
And this is only the latest in a series of stories about how Ottawa treats its prisoners. Here's another one, about a woman denied her cancer pills and forced to drink the water in her toilet. Then there were the Roxanne Carr and Stacey Bonds stories.
All these cases involved female prisoners.  And in all cases, the Ottawa authorities proceeded to blame and penalize the victim -- in the latest case, its been two weeks and the new mother is still locked up and hasn't yet been allowed to hold her baby.

A planned visit at the jail during visiting hours Saturday morning was cancelled due to security concerns, Hurtubise said Saturday.

Security?  They thought the baby might spit up?

Today was John Lennon's birthday

John Lennon would have been 72 today:

Why Obama now

Daily Kos: BRILLIANT: Animator for The Simpsons & Family Guy Creates "Why Obama Now"

But they have no shame

Canadian Press informs us that:

The NDP is trying to shame Conservative backbenchers into abandoning their daily game of partisan trash talk in the House of Commons.. . .
New Democrat Matthew Kellway ... questioned whether they have nothing better to do.
"Since the E. coli crisis began, the New Democrats have asked 33 questions about tainted meat, Conservatives not one. Are they talking about the economy or health care? No. Conservatives have made 32 statements and asked 10 questions, 1 out of every 4 Conservative questions (has been) about us, the New Democrats.
"For my colleagues across the way, I ask if this is really what they wanted to do with their life in elected office, indulging the fantasy life of the kids in the PMO?"

I can't imagine a more pointless activity than trying to make the Harper Conservatives act like responsible grownups.

Hey, wealthy lady

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Mitt Romney Style:

CollegeHumor's Favorite Funny Videos

How stupid do they think we are?

Is anyone the least bit surprised that the Harper claim of "700 new food inspectors" is turning out to be a complete lie and the Ritz claim that XL Foods has a "full contingent" of CFIA staff is, at best, grossly misleading?

"There is a full contingent of inspectors on site, and there was before this incident," said Ritz, listing 40 inspectors and six veterinarians.
"That is a 20 per cent increase over the last couple of years. So we are ramping it up."
[Agriculture Union president]Kingston puts another spin on those same numbers.
The XL plant may have a "full contingent" now, but only after repeated union complaints to fill empty positions at the facility."That plant[XL Foods] was grossly — to the point of illegally — understaffed," Kingston claimed.
"All they've done is fill vacant positions. That's not quite the same as actually increasing the complement."
As for the overall 700 new inspectors everyone from the prime minister down has been citing in defence of the government's handling of the E. coli outbreak, Kingston says the number is meaningless.
"It's totally misleading to the Canadian public," he said. "It's not even worth discussing those numbers because they're simply not relevant to what's happened at XL beef."
"None of those 700 people went into slaughter plants — period."