One of the Best Things About Canadian Press is its Main Customer:

The Sun dailies often reprint news from the CP feed verbatim and thus the CP feed tends to be somewhat right wing. So, as a result, you only catch the particularly stupid policies of this neo-liberal 'Conservative' government. Like this particularly interesting story about the Government's decision to bar journalistic coverage of flag draped coffins returning home containing those Canadians who have, without regard to their personal feelings about the efficacy of this war, laid down thier lives for Canada. For Canadian freedom.

There are some times when I do sincerely wonder if the Right Honourable Stephen Harper believes, as he claims, that Canadians are willing to make sacrifices in the name of freedom and ,if he does, whether or not he has considered the implications of such a commendable attribute and how best to honour it. Why else would he allow his minister, the Honourable Gordon O'Connor, to present such a policy? Surely the bereaved families would not be displeased at the receipt of a nation's gratitude.

The father of Sgt. Marc Leger who died in Afganistan had this to say about what the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister described as what was supposedly a deriliction of what is in the interest of the bereaved:

"It was a Canadian thing. It was something we wanted to show all Canadians - what the cost of their liberty is... It's still heartwarming to (remember) the people's faces. People were lined up on the 401, in 2002, all the way from Trenton to Toronto... They wanted to be there. They had to be there. I was told that often. . . and those are the things I carry with me all my life."

The best reasoning that I have heard from the responsible minister on official mourning, on a slodier by soldier basis, is that the Canadian tradition is to remember war dead as a group on November 11th. As John George Diefenbaker cited Wordsworth: "He is the true Conservative who knows when to lop the mouldering branch."

Our war dead protocol was adopted at a time of massive casualties. When Canadian soldiers enter a combat zone they no longer die too quickly to count. Nor does our enemy. If we are to believe the experts who brought us modern warfare, war is surgical. It now involves more and more materiel costs and less and less human costs.

Our government should recognise this societal shift and move to meet it, lest the logical conclusion of such an impulse be the fencing off of our war monuments. Our Prime Minister, if he is serious about the non-politicisation of grief over war dead could kindly ask my mayor, Stephen Mandel, to move the World War II memorial, which overlooks Churchill Square to a more... private location, so as not to continually violate what, more than sixty years later, is still a very private grieivng process.

Carolyn Parrish said that Canadians would begin to turn against the war when they saw Canadians returning in flag draped caskets. Is Stephen Harper really taking Carolyn Parrish's advice? We'll have to see just how heavy this balloon is.

I can't believe I forgot to plug this:

David Orchard, prospective Liberal leadership candidate, organic farmer, and Canadian nationalist. The man who could be Canada's 23rd Prime Minister, will be speaking at 7 PM Thursday (tonite) at:

Student Union Bldg of the Taylor University College and Seminary at 11525 — 23rd Ave. (The entrance is from Saddleback Road and there is plenty of parking on the campus. You can see the facility at http://www.taylor-edu.ca/about/ourcampus/facilities.htm, where there is a map that you can click for the details. The meeting room is a big room opposite the library.)

I'll be interested in what he has to say as always. He's a more complex politician than he's given credit for. If you want to discuss issues as an equal with someone who would be first amoung equals, here's your chance. However I must say, I'm not a Liberal, nor do I forsee myself becoming one. I was and am a PC, because I am a classical conservative. I don't see openness to such views in the Liberal party.

On Marginal Differences:

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper has finally admitted that the ground rushes up at one when he stated that Canadians would have to get used to high gasoline prices. He did sidestep the question of whether he would implement his 2004 campaign pledge of eliminating the GST on that segment of gasoline over 85 cents a litre and upon federal and provincial excise taxes, by saying that his GST plan would make, "A marginal difference," To consumers.

Marginal differences do add up. People, especially those holding a Masters of Economics, know that a florescent lightbulb here, a meal at home, instead of out, there, these are the things that make big changes, little by little. And furthermore every marginal benefit forgone is a marginal loss. Which is what makes the government's action on energy supply so very worrisome indeed. I am at this point unconcerned about the science of climate change.

Why? Simply put, most climatologists state that we have already passed the threshold for significant alterations in the planet's weather patterns. Either they are rgith, or they are wrong, we shall know soon enough. But whether or not we are to have haywire weather, everyday that the Hon. Rona Ambrose, Minister of the Envrionment, sits on the alternative energy file and refuses to make major investments in wind, solar, geothermal, and other alternative forms of free energy, the more ground that this nation loses in the emerging lucrative market of emerging energy.

We won't keep much of the nation employed in labs developing these techologies, sadly enough, but we will keep them employed building windmills, refining wastes into bio-gas and bio-diesel (Though to be precise the diesel we use right now is from biological sources, we just had the planet process it instead of a refinery.) To turn canola oil into diesel and to burn the diesel to harvest more canola is a carbon neutral process. Canadians, on left and right, must stop being so superficial about the economics of the environment. An economically viable system should not be in the practice of drawing down it's capital yet we do that to the tune of millions of barrels of oil a day. Every day that we fail to invest fully in the development of these existing technologies costs us far more than will be gained in terms of economies from the private sector. That our Prime Minister, a master's economist, can't realise that simple fact, and myself, a line cook, can says more about the dysfunctionality of our political system than a tenth of a billion dollars in graft ever will.

Harper's pledge to bankrupt the government:

Far be it from an opportunistic politician like me (best finish 6 of 8) to argue against a tax cut, but shouldn't we be using surplus revenue to pay down the half trillion dollar debt?! but anyway, quoth Harper about the GST Cut of 1/107th:

"It will help seniors to pay their utility bills, students to meet the rent, low-income families to put more groceries on the table," he said, noting that a home buyer could save about $4,000 when purchasing a $200,000 home.

A cut of 1/107'th will save less than $2000 on such a purchase. And don't you think the seller will pocket some of the difference. Do you see prices falling in anticipation of such a move? Hell no. You know why. Because prices won't move. You will pay the same tomorrow what you paid today. The only difference: Businesses will pocket the money instead of our healthcare or university system. Aren't you glad you elected an honest media dodger like Harper?

In addition, the government enjoyed a record surplus of $9 Billion, which is what a 2 point cut in the GST will cost. Don't we want to pay down the debt? Don't we want to solve the shrill whine of imbalance between the media coverage given to and the actual financial needs of the provinces? Do we hate those evil Liberals enough to nix child care for a generation? How will we afford those things when the first real fiscal move of the Harper government is a structural giveaway of $4.5 Billion?

I'm just askin' is all.

For the first time In my life I got more flies with vinegar then I did with honey. Weird. Not classy. I didn't like it:

I essentially called Bonus Stage creator Matt Wilson a burnt out hack who coulnd't come up with an original plot if it infected him with syphilis. (I'm not proud of myself for that) Matt responded with the script for the next episode. It's damn good. It's funny. It's brilliant. It's less likely to get produced than a Police Academy-Godfather crossover. The moral: There isn't one.

So now it's time to plug my latest effort: Gorffwysfa. It's the kind of series you'd expect from me, except that I've tried to get a webtoon together that Eugene Forsey and your 14 year old gamer cousin would both enjoy. Only problem? It's not animated or voiced at this point. We're working on that.

In other news. I gots other important stuff to do too.

I Usually leave the Iraq War alone, because I'm an economist and thus interested in the opportunity cost of transactions:

When Something Awful told me that you could buy an HDTV for every American (No layaway) or 16 grand and a plane ticket to the USA for every Iraqi I felt the need to point out what a colossal disaster this war is. I mean, An HDTV for everyone. Now there's a part of the NDP platform I missed! By the way we were calling for a free ride scholarship after a period of time spent in country for all students, whereas SA calls for 7+ Million. It's affordable, it's a good idea, and you put it short of matching the Cristian Heritage Party. Next time.

I was gonna write relevant political commentary, honest I was but...

Look, Something Awful that looks mysteriously like the Harper Family!

WARNING: Foul language and demonic meat by-products!

I suppose I should be happy he's got an april fools gag... but it's JJ baiting the lefties:

EDIT: Well, he took it down and I didn't have the foresight to save it here. Suffice it to say JJ drew haprer is what I suppose was supposed to be a communist uniform and had him holding a Hammer and Scythe flag and listening to the radio: "Suspending parliament? Decreeing laws? Is this waht counts for democracy in Canada?" Or something to that effect. And having harper think that. "maybe now isn't a good time to unveil the new flag."

Ooh, this is a good one Mr. McCullough: Let's say that Harper is suspending parliament and legislating by decree and let the lefty blogsters howl and then tomorrow say, "see things aren't so bad. Also the left is willing to believe anything." Well at least someone got the joke. Only question is if it's Mr. McCullough. Salami tactics JJ anyone looking to suspend civil liberties doesn't work like that. They go little slice by little slice so that you don't have to make one decision to oppose them, you have to make a thousand. But yeah, don't you think there'd be portraits of Friedman on the buildings if it was that kind of Conservative takeover?

Looks like the provincial PC's may have found some progressive:

Or maybe I'm just reading too much into this. But I'm positively giddy. More analysis as things unfold.