Prairie Boy

CPC Clean Air Act - a thoughtful review

2006-10-20T15:38:00.000-06:00

I've been wanting to post about the new clean air act but, I just haven't got around to it. In the meantime check out Steve Janke, he has a review of an article written by former NDP spokesman James Heath. You might be surprised the Heath's conclusions.

Attack of the Anonymouse

2006-10-12T20:43:00.000-06:00

I got rid of the comments from my previous post "Have you seen these girls?" it appears there were some slanderous comments made but at the same time a couple of very nice defenses of Melissa. I'll keep a better eye on this blog. I apologize for letting things get out of control.

I've changed the setting so the anonymouse cannot post without logging in to blogger first.

Hannah and Cedar Update

2006-08-29T20:48:00.000-06:00

Hannah and Cedar's abduction has been picked up by the Star Phoenix. A couple disturbing things;

Joe, who has both Australian and Lebanese citizenship, is now the subject of international warrants and an extradition order, and is charged with two counts of child abduction.
However, Calgary police Det. Theresa Garagan said
the case is complicated by the fact that neither Australia nor Lebanon will recognize the Canadian extradition order.

It's no surprise that Lebanon does not recognize Canadian extradition order but it's surprising that Australia doesn't. Not only that but this;

Engdahl and his daughter flew to Australia last week, where Joe's family told them that Lebanese passports had been acquired for the girls and that they would not be returned to Australia unless Melissa agrees to live in an apartment of their choosing in Sydney, give Joe full custody and have charges against him dropped.

The article ends with details on how you can help out with the costs of search;

Melissa graduated from Bishop Mahoney High School and still has scores of friends in Saskatoon, in addition to her three brothers, who have mobilized a fundraising campaign to help cover the costs of an international effort to bring the girls home.
Her brothers have organized a golf tournament to raise money at Dakota Dunes on Sept. 13, and a trust account has been set up to take donations at Bank of Montreal locations in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
"This is a very expensive process," Engdahl said. "The community behind us has been terrifically strong."

2006-08-24T23:42:00.000-06:00

Canadian Army Kickin' Ass

From July 15, some members of PPCLI are ambushed and take the fight to the taliban

It is our love of these innocents that endangers them

2006-08-11T08:55:00.000-06:00

A great essay from Blackfive, an American mili-blogger.

"Not so," I answer. "Consider: when the enemy seeks to kill our child to motivate us to surrender to his will, is it not because he believes that the danger to the children will move our hearts?"

"It is," she must agree.

"And when he hides among children," I add, "why? Children do little to deflect artillery. Must it not be because he knows that we -- we ourselves -- fear for the children, even his children?"

She nods, silently.

"Then it is proven," I say. "It is our love of these innocents that endangers them. If we did not care if children died, they would be in little danger."

"That cannot be," she replies in anger.

"But it is so,"
I contest. "If we did not care if our children died, they would not be targets. There would be no reason to target them, because we would not be moved by their deaths.
"If we did not care if their children died," I add, "there would be no reason to clutter military emplacements with their presence. If it were not that we are horrified by the deaths of children, the enemy's children would be clear of all places of battle -- because they are, except for the fact that we love them, a hindrance."

She bites her lip.

"Of course, we cannot cut out our hearts," I tell her. "Nor should we -- as we wish to remain men, and good men, rather than monsters. Yet it is our love that is the chief danger to the innocent now -- to our own innocents, and theirs also."

"What do you suggest?" she demands of me. "If you will not hate children, if you assert that it is right to love them -- but you say we cannot love them, without wrongfully endangering them -- what can we do? Where is the right?"

It's worth the read.

Have you seen these girls?

2006-07-30T16:33:00.000-06:00

A friend from high school had her little girls taken from her. It appears the girls father took the girls overseas and does not intend to return. The father, Joseph Hawach, is Lebanese and lived in Australia for several years. He is expected to take them to either Australia or Lebanon.

The Joseph Hawach is travelling with his mother Gladys Hawach. The little girls names are Hannah and Cedar Hawach. If you have any information you can contact Melissa at hannahcedar@yahoo.ca.

Happy Dominion Day

2006-06-30T08:53:00.000-06:00

I'm packing up and getting ready for the annual trip to the parents cabin to celebrate Canada Day. Hopefully the weather is good and my new toy runs well.

Impressive

2006-06-23T15:10:00.000-06:00

I really like this new government.
Today Harper called on the German government to arrest Saeed Mortazavi. Mortazavi was the prosecutor who ordered the illegal arrest and detention of Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi. Mortazavi is in Germany as the Iranian observer to the new UN Human Rights Council.

Considering how morally bankrupt Europeans have become, it's unlikely the German government will act and I'm sure there is that little issue of diplomatic immunity. None the less it is impressive that the government takes a stand and highlights this tragedy caused by Mortazavi.

if I should ever be tortured.......

2006-06-22T12:38:00.000-06:00

Another reason why Wretchard is a daily read for me;

My own testament, for the record, are that if I should ever be tortured, have my throat slit, beheaded, mutilated and then have booby traps planted round my corpse so that they might kill any relatives and friends -- should any of this ever happen to me -- that Amnesty International kindly refrain from extending it's "sincerest condolences" and weasely condemnations and offering its insulting and gratuitous advice. I don't want them. I would much rather lie forgotten in some open field than have one of Amnesty International's sick letters on my casket. Not that they would write it.

If I'm ever caught and tortured by terrorist I would want my family to put out a bounty on the heads of those would did harm to me. The last thing I would want is for some cowardly-forgiveness of the torturers and, like Wretchard, I would not want any mention of some pacifist organization like Amnesty International mentioned at my funeral.

A great week

2006-06-12T20:59:00.000-06:00

I'm a day late but it has been a great week. From terrorist to hockey, things have been looking up:

17 terrorists caught in Toronto before their diabolical plots could be hatched
Abu Musa'ab al-Zarqawi was killed by one big US bomb. The bastard wasn't done killing and was using a little girl as a shield, sadly the little girl was killed along with Zarqawi. Don't worry, the mass murderer didn't die right away, he suffered up 28 minutes before he died
The Oilers are down 3-1

What a week.

Joe for leader

2006-06-02T09:59:00.000-06:00

I officially support Joe Volpe. He is the right guy to lead the Liberal Party of Canada. He has a ringing endorsement from the Canadian Free Press. Joe also has the support of the blogsphere such as this one, Joe cannot go wrong.

May 8, Hard Hat Day

2006-05-09T12:51:00.000-06:00

Via Relapsed Catholic

May 8, 1970 anti-war protester assembled around the George Washington statue on Wall Street in memory of the Kent State student that were killed days earlier. The usual Viet Cong flags were up and many of the hippies were defiling the Stars and Stripes. Construction workers at the World Trade Center (and surrounding construction sites) got wind of the protest and stormed the protesters. In a funny twist, stock brokers from wall street joined the construction workers as they kicked some hippie ass. They didn't stop there;

New York City Mayor, John V. Lindsay had ordered that all flags on City buildings be lowered to half staff in recognition of the Kent State shootings, which the construction workers overwhelmingly opposed. They threatened to overwhelm City Hall unless the flag was raised to full mast, which it was. Lindsay also took the blame for the lack of action by the New York City Police Department, who made little attempt to stop the construction workers from rioting. Reportedly as the American flag was raised to full staff over City Hall, the construction workers demanded that the fifteen officers remove their riot helmets in respect. Seven did. While 150 NYPD officers protected City Hall from the rampaging construction workers, the police seemed to just stand by while the Hard Hats beat up the anti-war protesters.

Read it all here

Be sure to mark it on your calendar for next year.

Go Sharks Go

2006-05-03T21:39:00.000-06:00

Flames play a strong 10 minutes in the first period and that was it. After the first Duck goal the Flames did nothing. Brutal.

In tribute to Pat Quinn, my joke of the day

2006-04-21T12:58:00.000-06:00

Pat Quinn took $100 millions worth of hockey players to Turin and in two weeks turned them into the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Third Way, No Way

2006-04-21T12:35:00.000-06:00

So Klein and Evans have caved in to the Friends of Unions, opps I mean Friends of Medicare. The Alberta Government is dropping the two most important parts of the third way, the ability of doctors to operate in the public and private system and the ability to buy health insurance. As we all know Canadian healthcare is rationed, access is the only part of healthcare that the government can control. This makes sense because labour costs are constantly going up, operation costs will increase and drug cost will continue to increase. In order for any provincial government to maintain some level of service, they ration.

This is a huge win by Friends of Unions (oh, there I go again) ahem…Medicare they out played and out sold Klein’s government, what more can I say.

I am so sick of this government, I want a leader to make tough decisions. The whole point of leaving healthcare in the hands of the provinces is to allow provinces to try what works for them, as long as there is a basic level of healthcare coverage. There is nothing wrong with letting doctors take on paying customers once they have fulfilled their obligations to the public system.

Maybe it’s time for Preston Manning to start a new party.

"Progressives" vs Progress

2006-04-18T12:46:00.000-06:00

The term "progressive" to describe the left alway drove me nuts. I have alway thought that the left is very close minded to anything that is different from their point of view. I say this is the context of Canada because the right in Canada is a minority and has alway had to put up with the left where as the left being a majority does not necessarily have to put up with the right.

A post by Steve Janke points out a big difference between the progressives and conservatives, one that I never really thought about. Basically the progressive don't have solid goals but have may goals, they just want to change things. Conservatives set concrete goals but less goals (Harper's five priorities), it takes more effort to achieve them. A post well worth the read.

I'm leeeaving on a jet plaaane....

2006-04-03T20:38:00.000-06:00

Off to the Dominican for a week, posting should be non existent for the duration. We are staying at the Breezes Punta Cana. As long as those clouds go away it should be good.

Punta Cana is on the eastern tip of DR.

55.4%

2006-04-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

I'm shocked, of course not as shocked as Premier Klein. PC delegates voted 55% in a confidence vote last night here in Calgary. I got to say I kind of feel bad for Klein but it was his own damn fault, how can a populous Premier not see the writing on the wall. He has obviously hasn't been listening to the right people. Why he didn't leave after the 2005 centennial I'll never know, he was a good Premier even though I didn't vote for him in 2004.

Don Martin has a good column in the Herald. He waivers between being mad at the wannabe leadership contenders and Klein's unwillingness to leave. He also mentions that delegates were looking for a reason to support Klein but his speech was awful, from Martin's column;

"I ask you to give me, for one final time, your endorsement to achieve what I have laid out for the duration of this mandate," he said in a prepared text.
"If you see fit to give me that support, I pledge to you that I will work as hard as I possibly can to bring continued honour to this party and continued prosperity to the province we all love.
"You have my word, which I offer to you with humility, with respect and with honesty. The honour you have given me to serve as your leader has been the most profoundly rewarding fight of my life.
"I have treasured it, I have been strengthened by it, I am a better man because of it."

Wow. Yuck. This is a contrite Klein we've never seen before and underlines how seriously he took the threat to his reign. Trouble is, the extended mandate he seeks seems too little to justify a reign that's going on too long.

Since Klein will be gone by summer, long live Ted Morton, and if Morton can't do it then long live Mark Norris. Just as long as that Liberal douchebag Dave Hancock doesn't get elected leader.

Fallen Soldier

2006-03-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

Private Robert Costall of 1st Battalion, PPCL was killed in a firefight with taliban terrorists. The taliban attacked a coalition base in a remote part of southern Afghanistan. One American and eight Afghan soldiers were also killed in the battle. The good part is that these ten men took 32 dirt bags with them. As with any encounter with coalition forces, the taliban and Al Qaeda took heavy losses.

Would it kill CTV or CBC to announce the number of terrorists killed it a battle in the same paragraph as the one detailing coalition deaths. If reporters don't know any better than Canadian Forces spokespersons should help these reporters by giving them enemy casualties. Canada cannot fall into the same problem as the Americans where the media would announce the death of an American but no mention of the enemy losses. There is no quicker way to dishearten the people back home than to only tell them the bad news.

The war with radical Islamism

2006-03-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

Check out Belmont Club, wretchard reviews an article by J.R. Dunn at American Thinker about the future of the war with radical Islamism. Dunn points out that the war in Iraq and Afganistan have been lost by the Jihadists, of course anyone who gets their news from other than the MSM knows that the Americans have won in both countries. Yes there will be car bombings and kidnapping for a generation but Al Qaeda's plan to draw America in to a war with heavy casualties, one that America retreats from al la Vietnam has not materialized. Casulties are down to a trickle and Iraqi forces are taking the lead in most operations.

The Belmont post takes us to one of the more curious development of the "war on terror" in that the left has blinded its self to the obvious fact that radical Islamism is opposite of everything the left hold near and dear, other than that little fact of anti-Americanism. As usual wretchard has some insightful commentary. Worth a read as is the American Thinker article (its a little long).

dundundundaaaa dundundna (think Indiana Jones)

2006-03-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

I spent last night trying to find an Indiana Jones ring tone for my cell phone, I found a good one but the site was from somewhere in Europe. My seach continues.

Budget Day

2006-03-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

Today was budget day in Alberta. Today's forecast of a $4.1 billion surplus was mostly greeted with indifference. Not surprising, once again, spending was up, this budget is projecting an 8.3% increase. McClellan is facing pressure from special interest groups to spend on their pet project I kind of feel sorry for her, kind of how I feel sorry for a movie star who becomes famous but loses their freedom, just when you start to think it must be rough being a star you realize they are freakin rich and think "piss on them". I'm sure all provinces would like to be in Alberta's position but it is a bit of a house of cards. Increased spending is being fueled by high oil prices and if history is to be repeated, oil that goes up will come down. The current budget can only be supported with $60 oil. The worst part of all of this is that places like Alaska and Norway sock away their oil profits and are sitting on an absolute gold mine (that's black gold). Norway's is at $232 billion and Alaska's is at $34 billion which pays out yearly dividends to all residence of Alaska. Last year Alaska's fund paid out $845 per person, double the one-time Ralph bucks we got this year. $1 billion was put into the Heritage Savings Fund but Lougheeds baby has been stagnant for years and is sitting at a paltry $12 billion, remember, it was started the same year as Alaska's.

What was going to be my original rant was that there is no funding for any new schools in Calgary. It looks like Alberta's third largest city will have to suffer with only 2 schools in the whole city. Yes I'm talking about Calgary; the city has grown by 95,000 in the last 5 years, Red Deer is sitting at 75,000 and Medicine Hat is at 56,000. Red Deer has 14 elementary schools, 5 middle schools, and two high schools, along with a hand full of alternate schools. Calgary has funding for one new high school. The following is an excerptpt from a letter sent by the CBE to the Alberta government:

In May 2005, our Board submitted a Three-Year School Capital Plan that included a list of eleven schools and two modernizations to be funded in the first year of the plan. Many of these projects have been prioritized for more than two years. CBE parents are very distressed that no new school funding announcements were made last year, and this year, funding for only one new school, tied to a budget surplus, was announced long after the CBE's most recent Three-Year Capital Plan was submitted.
Despite educating almost 17% of the students in this province, the CBE received only 6.5% of the total infrastructure money recently announced to support new school construction.

So I start of complaining that spending is too high and finish off with demands for more spending, ahh such is life in Alberta.

Home for the weekend

2006-03-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

I'm in Saskatoon for the weekend. I plan to take my sisters money in poker, celebrate my brother finishing plumbing school and attend my nieces birthday. Should be a busy weekend.

I Love Subtrades

2006-03-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

I've been to three of the last four Flames home games all thanks to free tickets. Last nights game was good, it was a one man show, all Kipper all the time. To be fair, the defense was very good, they let Kipper see everything he needed to. With that win it put Kipper in a tie with Turco for most wins by a goalie. It was definately a pride game for Kipper and he replied with an excellent game.

Anne Coutier vs. Hollywood

2006-03-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

I don't read near enough Anne Coutier, the woman cracks me up. Anne takes a shot at George Clooney's self rightous remarks about Hollywood being out of step with America.

George Clooney made the only stand for liberal Hollywood, smugly declaring:

"We are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while. I think it's probably a good thing. We're the ones who talked about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we talked about civil rights when it wasn't really popular. ... (T)his group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. I'm proud ... to be part of this community, and proud to be out of touch."
Forget about Hollywood being ahead of the big issues: Hollywood has never even been on time for the big issues. This is why, for example, in the middle of an epic war with Islamic fascists, Hollywood is still making movies about the Nazis. Now and then, just for variety, they tackle a more current topic, like the Jim Crow era.
Even on AIDS -- which is something you'd expect people like Clooney to know something about -- Hollywood was about seven years behind. Wait, no -- bad choice of words. Even on AIDS, Hollywood got caught with its pants down. Still no good. On AIDS, Hollywood got it right in the end. Oh, dear ... Note to self: Must hire two more interns to screen hate mail.
The point is: The Hollywood set didn't start wearing AIDS ribbons to the Oscars until 1992: 10 years after The New York Times described AIDS; seven years after AIDS was the cover story on Life magazine; seven years after AIDS was in People magazine; five years after Oprah did a show on AIDS.
Only recently has George Clooney heard about segregation. (He's against it.) But he still can't nail down the details of something that ended nearly half a century ago.
Contrary to Clooney's impassioned speech, no theaters ever forced black people to sit in the back. If you were trying to oppress people, you would make them sit in the front, which are the worst seats in the house. Or you'd just make them watch a George Clooney movie.

Kind of evil.....evil light

2006-03-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

You Are 68% Evil

You are very evil. And you're too evil to care.

Those who love you probably also fear you. A lot.

How Evil Are You?

Not as evil as bumf.

Live action Simpson Intro

2006-03-08T10:30:00.000-07:00

This has been making its rounds on the internet so I guess I should jump on the band wagon and link to it on my site. So here it is, the live action Simpson intro.

Native Education

2006-03-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

A good post over at Dust My Broom about the decision to withhold native test scores in Alberta. For those outside of Alberta, the government releases test scores and schools can be ranked according to these test scores. It gives you a rough idea of how a school is doing and whether or not it is improving. I like the idea of releasing test scores, it forces non performing schools to strive to be better and highlights the schools that are doing things right.

I'm not sure where I read it but B.C. releases native test scores and it forced native bands to get serious about their own people's education. Over a couple of years, surprise, surprise, test scores went up. No point in hiding from a problem.

Best web site ever

2006-03-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

Check out this site Real Ultimate Power an except from it:

Hi, this site is all about ninjas, REAL NINJAS. This site is awesome. My name is Robert and I can't stop thinking about ninjas. These guys are cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.

want more:

Ninjas can kill anyone they want! Ninjas cut off heads ALL the time and don't even think twice about it. These guys are so crazy and awesome that they flip out ALL the time. I heard that there was this ninja who was eating at a diner. And when some dude dropped a spoon the ninja killed the whole town. My friend Mark said that he saw a ninja totally uppercut some kid just because the kid opened a window.

Check out the photo at the end and read the caption

h/t Jakub over at firingsquad

Ruff, ruff

2006-03-02T22:05:00.000-07:00

Hon, I'm just saying....

"I apologize for calling the Liberal document crap"

2006-03-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

Klein has a dust up with a legislature page and is forced to apologize for throwing a Liberal document at her. Tom Olsen goes into details.

UPDATE: I've changed the link to Sun media, I always forget about Canwest's subscriber firewall.

Let Freedom Reign

2006-02-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

Finally freedom has been delivered to Alberta. The Alberta Government has announce "the third way", a revolutionary approach to health care in the 21st century. The ability for someone to spend their own money on their health. An approach so ahead of its time it is only practiced in France, Germany, UK, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland.....well most of Europe, Asia, Australia and the US. What's that, the only countries with a system similar to ours is Cuba and North Korea, not a group I'd like to be part of.

So far in Canada, Quebec and BC allow their residence to spend money on themselves. Oh well, third to the party is not bad. Here is Kleins' planned approach:

Putting patients at the center
Promoting flexibility in scope of practice of health professionals
Implementing new compensation models
Strengthening inter-regional collaboration
Reshaping the role of hospitals
Establishing parameters for publicly funded health services
Creating long-term sustainability and flexible funding options
Expanding system capacity
Paying for choice and access while protecting the public system
Deriving economic benefits from health services and research

Nothing here I'm going to disagree with, only faster please.

Battlestar Galactica....Greatest Show Ever?

2006-02-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

I love this show, I didn't like the original series near as much as my brother but it was entertaining. This new show is amazing, it's a drama set in space. It's got everything, religious wars, near extending of the human race, space battles and sex. Already in it's second season on space and has been approved for a third season on the SCI-FI Channel.

Definitely worth watching, and as a bonus, it's filmed in Vancouver.

A week in Iraq

2006-02-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

Victor Hanson is my favourite historian, as much as you can have a favourite historian. Most of his books are from the Greek era, and uses that knowledge as a reference for other period in human history include present day. He is a card carrying democrat who strongly supported the invasion of Iraq and is still a staunch defender of what the US is trying to do in the Middle East. Hanson strongly believes in the strength of western culture, you could almost say the superiority of western culture. The way he sees history is very much how I have always felt, no one race is superior to another because the make-up of man is more less the same but our western culture is far superior to any other. If you compare the average Greek to the average Persian in 500 BC you would find the Greek person would be recognized as free person compared to the Persian who was a possession of the current King. Even in the Middle Ages, serfs would own a small piece of land that they farmed as compared to some average Incan who was also the possession of the king. The freedoms we enjoy in Canada, the US and Europe was replicated by Japan and South Korea after WWII and they have flourished in the 20th Century, freedom leads to innovation and prosperity

Hanson spent some time around Iraq recently and his column in the National Review talks about how well the Americans are doing in defeating the terrorists, retraining the military and rebuilding the infrastructure.

The insurgency in Iraq has no military capability either to drive the United States military from Iraq or to stop the American training of Iraqi police and security forces - or, for that matter, to derail the formation of a new government. The United States air base at Balad is one of the busiest airports in the world. Camp Victory near Baghdad is impenetrable to serious attack. And even forward smaller bases at Kirkuk, Mosul, and Ramadi are entirely secure. Instead, the terrorists count on three alternate strategies:

First, through the use of improvised explosive devices (IED), assassinations, and suicide bombings, they hope to make the Iraqi hinterlands and suburbs appear so unstable and violent that the weary American public says "enough of these people" and calls home its troops before the country is stabilized. In such a quest, the terrorists have an invaluable ally in the global media, whose "if it bleeds, it leads" brand of journalism always favors the severed head in the street over the completion of yet another Iraqi school.

Second, the al Qaedists think they can attack enough Shiites and government forces to prompt a civil war. And indeed, in the world that we see on television, there is no such thing as a secular Iraq, an Iraqi who defines himself as an Iraqi, or a child born to a Shiite and Sunni. No, the country, we are told, is simply three factions that will be torn apart by targeted violence. Sunnis blow up holy places; Shiites retaliate; and both sides can then blame the Americans.

Third, barring options one and two, the enemy wishes to pay off criminals and thugs to create enough daily mayhem, theft, and crime to stop contractors from restoring infrastructure and thus delude the Iraqi public into believing that the peace would return if only the Americans just left.

The creation of a secular army and police force is one of the most important things in preventing the destruction of the Golden Mosque in Samarra from becoming a full blown civil war. The recreated police force will do better job of tracking down those responsible and a show of force by Iraqi soldiers will prevent both Sadar's militia or some Sunni Iman from exerting any influence as the government tries to calm things down. Hanson is optimistic about the future of Iraq but anybody who gets their information from sources other than the MSM will be enthusiastic about Iraq's' future.

Can-do Americans courageously go about their duty in Iraq - mostly unafraid that a culture of 2,000 years, the reality of geography, the sheer forces of language and religion, the propaganda of the state-run Arab media, and the cynicism of the liberal West are all stacked against them. Iraq may not have started out as the pivotal front in the war between democracy and fascism, but it has surely evolved into that. After visiting the country, I think we can and will win, but just as importantly, unlike in 2003-4, there does not seem to be much of anything we should be doing there that in fact we are not.

The Cartoonists Strike Back

2006-02-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

A collection of Cartoons from US papers in response to radical Islam going off the deep end.

h/t ElectEcon

WAR!

2006-02-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

After trying for three years to start a civil war, it looks like the terrorist finally got their money shot. Terrorists attacked the Golden Mosque in Samarra. From The Times Online;

Coming when sectarian tensions were at breaking point, the attack in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, has succeeded in igniting Shia rage where thousands of deaths have failed. The golden 9th-century al-Askariya mosque in the town is the burial site of two imams related to the Prophet Muhammad; it is one of Iraq’s four holiest sites and sacred to millions of Shias throughout the world. Shortly before 6.30am yesterday a group of gunmen, some in uniform, some in black, entered, overpowered guards and planted two bombs. Just before 7am the top was blown off the dome.

Does this mean I don't get my invasion of Syria?

HEARTBREAK

2006-02-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

One goal, the game came down who would score first, unfortunately it was scoring machine Alex Ovechkin. Canada wasn't necessarily outplayed, because they were not outstanding this tournament. Russia was very quick, Ovechkin and Kovalchuk spun our defense in circles. Canada usually would check the hell out of a quicker team but that was lacking as well.

Nabokov played very well and the Canadians just couldn't get past him. The other thing the Canadians couldn't figure out this tournament was teams that choked up the middle. Hint, the long pass wasn't working so why beat it to death.

Brodeur carried this team, the games that we won would have been a different story without him, he will be sorrily missed in 2010.

Hopefully this is the last Team Canada that Quinn coaches, I don't think Hitchcock is the answer.

The only consolation to today was the large bar bill we rung up at Schanks.

Update: Bob Mckenzie has a good column over at tsn.ca

To me, there were seven forwards upon whom Team Canada's fortunes rested. Joe Sakic, Jarome Iginla, Simon Gagne -- that was the big number one line.
I'm giving Joe Sakic a free pass; he played hard and played hurt. Iginla and Gagne were supposed to build on what they did in 2002 and that did not happen.
The second line for Team Canada, Rick Nash, Joe Thornton and Todd Bertuzzi -- Nash didn't get the job done, as one of those young kids, Thornton and Bertuzzi looked slow and lost out there.
Dany Heatley would be the seventh forward I'd talk about. He, along with Nash, was supposed to have a coming out party. They didn't get the job done.
Team Canada was going to go as far as those seven players took them. They didn't go very far.

He's right, had Phaneuf, Crosby, or Staal been there, I don't think the out come would have been that different. The superstars did not take this team far enough.

Canadian Productivity Drops

2006-02-21T23:05:00.000-07:00

Call Moldy and Paul Wells because Canada's productivity will drop by 1000% on Wednesday Feburary 22 around 12:30 MST as Canada plays Russia in the quarter finals.

Someone tell my boss I have a meeting booked, oddly enough, for Wednesday at 12:30 .

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

2006-02-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

I've been reading Eric Margolis of the Sun Media Chain for several years, now that I have a blog I can finally comment on his ah...hem...uh questionable analysis. Margolis is Sun medias own version of Sean Hannity. Let's get something straight for you who don't read Margolis (because you will hear a lot of Margolis from me) he hates Bush, a lot of people don't like Bush, many give him cutesy names like Bushitler or chimpymcbushaliberton but Margolis HATES Bush that's hate with a capital H, you get the point. Because of this hate, Margolis has almost taken the side of the Islamists and seems to let most of their bad behavior slide as he rails that BUSH LIED!!!!

So what words of wisdom does Eric have for us this week. Apparently Tony Blair is becoming Bush, Blair wants to pass a law to make the "glorification of terrorism" a criminal offence. While this is a dumb law, as dumb as the other law Blair passed that made it a criminal offence to insult religions, mostly to prevent people from criticizing a certain religion from a middlish somewhat eastern religion. So Margolis figures in order for Blair to boost his sagging popularity he will go after terrorists, the elusive "war on terror" that Bush loves to drag out. But my problem with this article is that Margolis goes from 0-60 in a couple paragraphs. He all but drags out the slippery slope argument to claim that this "glorification of terrorism" law will lead to Soviet style gulags. Thanks Eric, the slippery slope is just about the most lame argument in the entire world.

The end in sight

2006-02-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

Is Klein's end in sight? According to Paul Jackson at the Calgary Sun delegates at the upcoming PC convention are planning to vote against Klein.

Yet, there is one way to avoid this disaster: If Klein won't go willingly, he must be pushed.

That chance will come when the PCs hold their convention in Calgary from March 31 to April 2.
On opening night, after Klein gives his keynote address, delegates vote their confidence in him.

To date, Klein has always won a resounding 90%-plus vote. That is impossible this time around. Insiders suggest he'll be lucky to get 80%.

Even that scenario may be imaginative. I'm told delegates who are backers of the leadership contenders -- a huge chunk of the delegates -- are now prepared to pull the plug on Klein themselves and vote en mass against him.

Some suggest already something like 30% are already prepared to do that, and the number could grow. What a humiliation.

Klein could avoid it all by announcing in his keynote speech he's going voluntarily -- and with dignity within six months and a firm date for a leadership convention is to be set within a month.

I've always thought Paul Jackson has been too optimistic about conservative fortunes both provincial and federal and his predictions have usually fallen short. I doubt the delegates would actually vote against him. But, Kleins time has come and gone and now he is just embarrassing himself. He's done good things in the past but it's time to move on, sit on a few company boards and retire with a little dignity. This is as bad as Cretien who hung around too long.

It's the demography, stupid

2006-02-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

Most columnists take up a cause, something to write about on a slow news day. Paul Wells has productivity, Andrew Coyne has proportional representation and Mark Steyn has been beating the demography drums since 2001. From his article in The Australian:
Demography doesn't explain everything but it accounts for a good 90 per cent. The "who" is the best indicator of the what-where-when-and-why. Go on, pick a subject. Will Japan's economy return to the heady days of the 1980s when US businesses cowered in terror? Answer: No. Japan is exactly the same as it was in its heyday except for one fact: it stopped breeding and its population aged. Will China be the hyperpower of the 21st century? Answer: No. Its population will get old before it gets rich.

Well it seems the National Post (behind the subscriber firewall) is listening to Steyn, several years after he left them. The Post is running a four part special about a childless culture. I loved the title Look Ma, No Siblings. This article brings up some points that are harped on but I don’t think anyone has really taken to heart:
This is what a childless Canada would look like. But it is not the science-fiction vision of a far-off future. In less than a decade, seniors will outnumber children in Canada; in just 15 years, deaths may outnumber births.
The country's population is in decline, and unless massive immigration or an overhaul of reproductive attitudes and policies compels a radical turnaround, Canada will soon reflect a lopsided and never-seen-before demographic reality where the young are drastically outnumbered by the old.
It is not that the greying of Canada has come as a surprise. For nearly 20 years, demographers and economists alike have been making projections based on the burgeoning pool of ageing Baby Boomers.
What many didn't see coming, however, was an accompanying decline in fertility levels, which has been dramatic, persistent -- and coincidentally timed so as to deliver a double-whammy to Canada's population growth.
By the year 2015, for the first time in the history of Canadian population statistics, there will be more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 15. Even the normally staid national bureau of record-keeping, Statistics Canada, declared, "This would be an unprecedented situation in Canada," when it announced late last year the critical turning point in a population projections report.
These projections, which were shaped by various growth scenarios, predicted fertility rates ranging from a low of 1.3 babies per woman to a high of 1.7 babies per woman. That puts Canada in line with the growing roster of nations beset by declining fertility: France, 1.9; Australia, 1.7; Germany, 1.3; Italy and Spain, 1.2, Japan, 1.2; Korea, 1.1.

Steyn’s biggest concern is more cultural, can free liberal society like Canada, US, Australia and Western Europe handle large immigration from Muslim countries that don’t share our beliefs. His fear is Islamification of countries with large Muslim immigration. But all is not lost for Canada:
But Australia, like the US, is genuinely multicultural, at least in the sense that its immigration is not from a single overwhelming source. The remorseless transformation of Eutopia into Eurabia is already prompting the Dutch to abandon their country in record numbers, for Canada and New Zealand.
In the years ahead, North America and Australia will have the pick of European talent and a chance to learn the lessons of its self-extinction, as they apply to abortion and much else.

Where do we go from here?

I’m a firm believer is technology, if global warming is proven to be man-made and not just a natural cycle, man will genetically enhance trees to suck more carbon out of the air. If we really are running out of oil, man will produce cars that run without oil. The problem with low birth rates is how do you get western men and women to want to have kids. Being somewhat youngish, I understand the cost of children, it is way more expensive today but also young people have a higher expectation of comforts than in our parents time.

I don't think immigration is the way to go, mostly because the massive immigration required in the next several decades is not healthy to our culture, but I suppose that's how this country was founded. The other thing is it's not fair to the countries all these immigrantes are coming from. If we are taking all the doctors, scientist and engineers from Africa and Asia, what does that leave these countries with, how will they ever get out the mess they are in?

The finishing paragraph in Steyn's article is kind of funny and hits home:

In the '70s and '80, Muslims had children - those self-detonating Islamists in London and Gaza and Bali are a literal baby boom - while westerners took all those silly books about overpopulation seriously. A people that won't multiply can't go forth or go anywhere. Those who do will shape the world we live in.

Welcome to the Matrix

2006-02-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

You scored as Nebuchadnezzar (from The Matrix). You can change the world around you. You have a strong will and a high technical aptitude. Now if only Agent Smith would quit beating up your friends.

Coming on December 1, 2005:

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? The Sequel

Moya (from Farscape)

88%

Nebuchadnezzar (from The Matrix)

88%

Serenity (from Firefly)

81%

SG-1 (from Stargate)

75%

Enterprise D (from Star Trek)

69%

Galactica (from Battlestar: Galactica)

56%

Millennium Falcon (from Star Wars)

50%

Bebop (from Cowboy Bebop)

44%

Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? v1.0
created with QuizFarm.com

Thanks to kate, finally a quiz I could get behind.

I've never seen Farscape so that analogy is lost on me.

The best a man can get

2006-02-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

I'm a gadget freak and somehow I let the Mach3 Turbo slip by. Not to be kept in the dark ages with my original Mach3 I went out and bought the new Fusion, five blades, five freakin blades. Man, is that thing impressive, silver handle with metalic blue accents and orange trim, its a thing of beauty. Not to mention that I bought the Fusion Power so it vibrates. How does it work you ask, meh, it's a razor. I assume it will be like the rest of the Gillette line up and get dull very quickly. But, how is a guy to pass up something that looks that good.

Day late and a dollar short

2006-02-16T18:07:00.000-07:00

I love politics and had to chuckle at myself for starting a blog AFTER the election. I was all over Moldy Peaches, Bumf, Political Staples and the godfather during the election and even after Harper's "cunning" start.

I plan to post on federal and provincial politics (assuming Klein packs it in one of these days), world event (with an eye on Iraq/Iran/Syria), and video games.

I was born and raised in Saskatoon and very much a city boy but you can't live in Saskatchewan without loving the wide open prairies. My wife and I drive back to Saskatoon a fair amount and I love the drive, I like it even more than driving through the mountains. With all that, when I needed unique nickname for one of the games I was playing, Prairie Boy just kind of popped into my head, I've kept it ever since.

A small start

2006-02-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

I've trolled long enough, time to get my own piece of the internet.