Jon Stewart: Fox News is now secretly liberal

Oh this is fantastic....

Glenn Beck, closet socialist

Oh, the delicious irony....






"Once in a while, maybe capitalism needs to be reminded of the value of human life""

The latest event in the unending saga of Omar Khadr

“The knowing involvement of Canadian officials in the mistreatment of Mr. Khadr in breach of international human rights law, in particular by interviewing him knowing that he had been deprived of sleep in order to induce him to talk, ‘opens up a different dimension' of a constitutional and justiciable nature,”

As has been noted by many already in the Progressive blogosphere already, the Government of Canada has lost its appeal on the Khadr case. The PM has yet to comment on the ruling, aside from noting that it was a split 2-1 decision.

I have no doubt that our government will keep this case in legal and diplomatic limbo as long as possible to avoid having to actually follow our own laws and guidelines. More appeals, diplomatic wrangling over how such a handover would occur; anything to prolong the process until the PM can arrange a more favorable outcome. Forgive me if I’m a little pessimistic, believing that Mr. Khadr won’t be seeing a Canadian courtroom for quite some time.

Since most posts I make on Khadr usually elicit the usual “pinko-commie-freedom hating-terrorist sympathizer” vitriol, I thought I’d make a few points:

Webster’s Online Dictionary describes Terrorism as “the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion”, which doesn’t really apply to what Khadr has been accused of. A more appropriate term would be “alleged guerilla fighter in a civil war”. But that doesn’t have al the emotional baggage of “terrorist”, does it?

Which brings me to my second point: he hasn’t been convicted of anything yet, after seven years in custody. If supporters of the government are so sure of his guilt, one would think that they would embrace the opportunity to get him into a Canadian court of law, and under our media’s spotlight, and end his supposed “martyr complex”.

Finally, if the government is now in the business of prosecuting child soldiers pressed into service, I have a couple of suggestions as to who they could go after next.

The United States' chilling future under the Obama Health Care Plan: According to Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Steele, et al.

Oh Noes! Grandma's Lifeclock(tm) is flashing red! We must prepare for Carrousel, as overseen by Sandmanpersons Pelosi and Obama!

At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

Lacking much in the way of political goings on in my neck of the woods, I’ve found my attention drawn to the debate over Health Care Reform in the United States. Specifically, the Republican Party’s choice of tactics in opposing the proposal put forward by the Democratic Party; and how the media is covering it.

Without hyperbole, Sarah Palin and the Republican Party are in the market of profiting off of human fear and anger, having decided that the best way of defeating the proposal put forward by the Obama White House is to make up the most insane things as possible (eg “Death Panels”, “Placing Seniors on Ice Floes”, comparing Obama to Hitler). The result of this is that people who (for some reason) trust their elected officials to tell them the truth have bought into this nonsense, and (if the resulting town halls are any indication) have been driven into a hysterical panic. All the while, the leaders of the GOP seem to be rubbing their fingers with glee, exclaiming “Good… Good…”.

In the movie Man of the Year, Lewis Black’s character comments:

“TV puts everybody in those boxes, side-by-side. On one side, there's this certifiable lunatic who says the Holocaust never happened. And next to him is this noted, honored historian who knows all about the Holocaust. And now, there they sit, side-by-side, they look like equals!”

This pretty much sums up how the media has, for the most part covered the health care debate; along with the whole “Birther” "Racist" movement. In this corner, we have a have a medical doctor who would like to outline the shortcomings of the current health care system. In this corner we have a tinfoil hat-wearing loony. Discuss.

Sadly, this strategy isn’t unique to the United States. In the last Albertan provincial election claimed that caps on carbon emissions would cost the province 300,000 jobs, without making the slightest effort to defend where such a ridiculous number came from. The media let him get away with it.

Sometimes I think the TV, Radio, and Newspaper folks need to go a bit further than simply reporting on what our elected officials are saying, and press them further to force them to back up their outrageous claims. If they are unable to, the media should, at the very least, ask them that famous question: "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

At the very least, if they don't, the next time someone like Ed Stelmach spins a line of a "300,000 jobs" magnitude, I reserve the right to attempt to get an "Ed Stelmach wants to sell off Alberta's toddlers to Kazakhstan" rumour into the main stream, or at the very least force him to grant credence to such an outlandish statement by addressing them in public.

Other thoughts on the American Health Care debate here

Nate Silver’s Challenge to Climate Change Deniers

This should be interesting. I haven’t been paying much attention to FiveThirtyEight.com a whole lot since the US election, but it appears I should be.

In a recent post, Nate has decided to take on the problem of the faulty “its cold today therefore climate change is a myth” logic. His challenge (open to US residents only) is that for every day the taker’s hometown is at least 1 degree Fahrenheit above average, the taker owes him $25. For every day it’s at least 1F below average, Nate pays $25.

No takers yet. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone does eventually takes him up on this, and before anyone asks; no I won’t be making a similar offer for a number of reasons - not the least of which is that I have better things to do with my time than manage the data for this sort of wager.

Why I'm envious of the United States

In watching the whole health care debate unfolding south of the 49^th, I can’t help feeling a bit envious.

Don’t get me wrong; I still believe that Canada stands head and shoulders above our southern neighbors on issues like same sex rights, not executing people, and not invading middle-eastern countries because our leader has deep-seated daddy issues. However, after watching President Obama giving various press conferences defending health care reform, I find myself hoping that our own leaders are taking notes.

Health reform has been a third rail of American politics, yet by taking it on less than a year into his first term – without even having the united support of his party, Obama has shown a willingness to thumb his nose at conventional political wisdom in order to do what he believes is right.

It’s not like there are no of hot button issues up here that need dealing with: a real response to climate change, expanding clinics like Insite, constitutional and electoral reform, etc. All we need is a couple politicians willing to get a little bit “mavericky”.

Today we see why “changing the PCs from within” is a fruitless endeavour

Considering the omnipresence of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party in my home province, one would be forgiven if they jumped to the conclusion that the best way to affect actual change in the province is by trying to fix the system from within. Indeed, during the last provincial election, a PC volunteer who I had the opportunity to chat with admitted she supported the LPC federally – definitely not a unique position among the ranks of Alberta’s “Red Torys”.

I’ve questioned the effectiveness of such attempts, and it seems my skepticism has been somewhat vindicated today. Guy Boutilier; a former cabinet member (and current MLA for Fort McMurray) who has been recently vocal about his criticisms over the postponement of a long term care facility in his riding was kicked out of the PC caucus Friday for his efforts. I’ve been no fan of Boutilier, but this seems incredibly heavy handed – even for a party that seems to prize personal loyalties above all else like the Alberta PCs.

Ken Chapman has spoken at length about efforts by the Edmonton-Whitemud PC association to overturn the controversial Bill 44, and while the individuals in that case are working within the party structure to change the legislation rather than embarrassing the Premier in a public forum, I suspect their efforts won’t get much further than Mr. Boutilier’s attempt to loosen the purse strings of Alberta Health.

More on this story

Why would the Government of Alberta sack its top virologist in the middle of an influenza pandemic?

You’re the Government of Alberta. Your province is in the middle of a health care crisis. There’s a global influenza pandemic, and your province has seen over a thousand cases (behind only Ontario and Quebec in total numbers) and two deaths in three months. What do you do?

Why, fire the head of a laboratory responsible for the provincial response to the pandemic, of course!

Can someone explain to me why, in the middle of a pandemic, would the government choose to sack someone who appears to be respected by peers both internationally and locally? Especially since co-workers appear to be “impressed with how well-prepared the provincial laboratory was for the deluge of testing for the H1N1 virus.” The only possible rational I can make of it so far is that the Stelmach government is so determined to show that less government is better, It’s decided to prove it by acting as incompetently as possible.

Conservative Government Punishes Minister of State for Funding Pride Parade; in Related News, Water is Wet.

According to a social-conservitive news site, Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism) Diane Ablonczy, faced political repercussions after federal funds she oversaw were used in funding Toronto’s Pride Parade (an event that brings in 500,000 to a million attendees). For those playing along at home, the Parade got $400,000 (as did the Edmonton Fringe Festival). The Calgary Stampede got $2 Million, and the Montreal Jazz Festival got $3 Million.

After reading this story, the original one at “LifeSiteNews”, and other bloggers’ take on the story, for whatever reason, I can’t summon up the appropriate outrage, or even a dramatic rolling of the eyes. I mean, were we expecting something different? A kinder, gentler, live-and-let-live social conservative, perhaps?

Maybe I’m feeling extra cynical tonight, but I doubt that this will affect a single vote whenever we next go to the polls. Those who are outraged would never have voted for the Harper Conservatives anyway; a fact likely not lost on Tory campaign strategists.