I’ve been getting a few notes from some folks in other parts of the world lately asking me things like, “is the Canadian winter really like that?” and some of the other questions that we’ve all gotten so used to. Why the hell is it that it seems like every damned question is about nothing but winter?? 🙄 We actually do have four separate seasons up here, you know. And don’t give me any of that “almost winter, winter, still winter and construction” bullshit, either. It’s FOUR; as in spring, summer, fall and then winter.

Aw, screw it. To answer JB’s question (that he asked all the way from the land of Oz): Yes, it can get a little hairy sometimes. But you get used to it. Really.

And as for Nicole from the other London and her question, the answer is “pretty damned quick.” As luck would have it, the front page of today’s Freeps had a perfect example of what I’m talking about. This is what can happen in 12 seconds:

Pretty funky, eh? So, can we try to get some non-winter-related curiosity stirred in our melons now? Sheesh…

I have to admit, some days this country just leaves me scratching my head. Sometimes it’s in a good way. Some times it’s in a “where are we going and what am I doing in this handbasket” kind of way. Still other times it’s in a “just what the hell was that” kind of way. Lately it’s been like the last one… a lot. It’s not that things have been going spectacularly bad, or especially good, or anything else like that. I just find myself poking around on the net, looking for anything that resembles interesting news, and I just can’t help but ask myself sometimes, “and where the hell else in the world could you possibly find this combination of events??” The answer, I think, is nowhere. Don’t take my word for it, though. See for yourself and you tell me what you think…

The last few days has seen everything from a uniquely Canadian solution to a shortage of beer on a warship (arguably also a uniquely Canadian problem) to ref abuse becoming a science. The Great White Oops of the Librano$ is bumbling across the land trying to convince people that he’s not really an idiot — starting out with telling Alberta oilpatch workers that they’re “living too fast for the easy money” and being bad for our economy — while punditos across the land furiously try to read the national entrails for signs of the next election. Speaking of elections, over in la belle province, PQ leader Andre Boisclair has begun to realize that his political fortunes are flagging and so has responded by creating a new, smarter package of policies to present the people of Quebec playing the Gay Victim card. Immigration authorities will violate the traditional sanctuary of a church to get your ass out of the country; unless you assassinate a head of state, in which case you’re welcome to stay.

Name someplace else where you can find that mix. Go on, I dare ya…

As if I didn’t already have enough to bitch about when it comes to our idiotic immigration and ridiculous refugee systems, it now seems that even assassinating a head of state isn’t enough to get your sorry ass declared persona non grata in this country anymore. Yeah, you read that right. According to reports which are conspicuously NOT splattered all over the MSM lately, it seems that one Noor Chowdhury has decided to get all comfy in Canada after murdering the head of state back in his home country… and our screwball Immigration and Refugee Board is letting him!! See for yourself:

A Bangladeshi fugitive convicted of killing his country’s prime minister in a bloody coup won’t be deported from Canada because he faces a death sentence in his native land, an immigration board has ruled.

So friggin’ WHAT?? I don’t give a damn what’s going to happen to him once we get rid of his ass, I just plain don’t want him in MY country. And just who is this asshole you’re wondering? Well, he’s the guy that has been convicted of murdering Bangladesh’s then-PM Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975. Now, before you go tooting away about how Bangladeshi jurisprudence may not measure up to our own, bear in mind that the IRB agreed that this bugger is, in fact, a murderer:

“C participated in a coup against the president, walking into the victim’s home and killing him,” the board said in a ruling made available last week.

Yup, that’s us: haven to the world’s murderers. Pissed off yet? No? Try this for size:

Chowdhury and two others allegedly involved in the coup fled to Canada after years on the run. The two have since obtained citizenship — one lives in Ottawa, the other in Montreal.

And just how much do you want to bet that not a damn one of them lives on the same street as anybody on the IRB?

Yup, it’s back again. Sunday is here, I’m too lazy to really rant about anything (although, with this being Lent and all, I’m at least not hung over for a change), and so I just toss out a bunch of links to stuff that I think is worth checking out. Sometimes I think they’re worth checking out because I like the article, sometimes because it pisses me off and, let’s face it, misery loves company.

But anyways, here they are, one way or another. Make what you like of ’em…

The future of citizen journalism
Paul Berton, London Free Press

It’s the exchange we’ve had with readers on our letters page for decades, even centuries.

In many ways, it is about the democratization of the news media. We’ll introduce more voices and points of view and experiences to our news products. We’ll be more reflective of the entire community, not just the parts journalists decide are worth covering.

Harper’s strategy to force Liberals’ hand
Ted Byfield, Calgary Sun

So, if Harper holds the West, and makes a few Quebec gains, it all comes down to Ontario — as usual.

Here Dion, no doubt, hopes to cash in on his environment crusade, but he suffers a triple disability.

Opposition gainsaying rarely productive
Jim Chapman, Freeps

In this country, we have developed three main schools of political thought, and labelled them the Liberal, Conservative and New Democratic parties. The Green party may be on its way to a noticeable share of public support, but they’re not quite there yet.

It is natural to assume that within these groups, the better minds tend to rise to the top as often as not — that’s the case in many similar structures. And if that’s true, then the parties should, loosely speaking, represent the best thinking of large segments of the population.

(I acknowledge there are serious flaws in this premise that are all too apparent to anyone who studies Canadian politics, but stay with me anyway, at least for a few more paragraphs.)

Supremely foolish
Micheal Coren, TO Sun

So a group of unelected and unaccountable judges have slapped your government on the wrist and told it to go away and change the way it protects its people.

Because they know more than the men and women of the police and armed forces, more than terrorism experts, more than agents who have put their lives on the line for years.

More inconvenient truths
Lorrie Goldstein, Toronto Sun

The more you research global warming, the more you realize we’re being told things that don’t add up.

Here’s some examples.

Suzuki playing gutter politics
Paul Jackson, Cowtown Sun

Well, I’ve always had doubts about Suzuki’s own credentials as a so-called expert on climate change. But I never knew he also claimed to be an expert on the economy.

What Suzuki really is — in my opinion — is little more than a popular entertainer for the liberal-left set.

Negotiate with the Taliban
Eric Margolis, TO Sun

Negotiating a deal with Taliban and other Afghan resistance forces is the only way out of this morass, not expanding a war that is already lost.

Just how nice to the terrorists do we have to be?
Rachel Marsden, TO Sun

In today’s ridiculous, politically correct climate, had 9/11 terrorist Mohamed Atta actually been hauled off his flight before ramming it into the World Trade Center, he’d probably be a member of the millionaire’s club today, while having the cops apologize to him.

Not so free in Germany
Joseph Quesnel, Winterpeg Sun

It took 15 German officers to take 15-year-old Melissa Busekros from her home, as the German government began cracking down on these nasty enemies of the state. By court order, school officials ordered the breakup of a family with five children, after the state asserted its belief that Christian homeschooling is a “parallel culture” that Germany can do without.

Enviro-whackos should stop recycle of abuse
Ian Robinson, Calgary Sun

One expects governments to be dumb. One expects governments to sway with the political whim of the moment. But I had hoped they wouldn’t be quite this stupid.

How Gore’s massive energy consumption saves the world
Mark Steyn, Sun-Times

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the other day the Rev. Al Gore declared that “climate change” was “the most important moral, ethical, spiritual and political issue humankind has ever faced.” Ever. I believe that was the same day it was revealed that George W. Bush’s ranch in Texas is more environmentally friendly than the Gore mansion in Tennessee. According to the Nashville Electric Service, the Eco-Messiah’s house uses 20 times more electricity than the average American home. The average household consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours. In 2006, the Gores wolfed down nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours.

Harper surging, Dion fading
Greg Weston, Ottawa Sun

OTTAWA — As the Commons fades to blessed quiet and MPs head home to their ridings for a two-week March break, the once almighty Liberals can only pray they won’t be returning to a spring election.

In his first three months as the Liberals’ great hope, Stephane Dion, has been his own worst attack ad, so overwhelmingly underwhelming voters that the Grits are today less popular in most parts of the country than they were with no leader.

Well, I kind of guess it’s inevitable, especially when the government is in a minority situation. For those of you that don’t know this little nugget of trivia already, the average life expectancy for a minority government in the Canadian Parliament is about a year and a half, give or take a week or two. That’s eighteen months, or 78 weeks, or 546 days. A quick peek to your right shows that Her Majesty’s Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Stephen Hardass, has been leading the current Tory government in the House for 389 days now. In other words, if history is any indicator, we can likely expect to drag our collective ass back to the polls again sometime before Labour Day.

Whoopee.

No surprise then, that speculation about “when, when, when is it gonna be??” is running rampant, not just in Ottawa but in just about every other damn place between St John’s and Vancouver. For those of you that might be hoping this will all blow over so you can actually enjoy your summer, forget it. The media is all over this stuff like the homeless industry on a TO budget surplus, and that’s the way it’s likely to stay…

“Poll puts Liberals well back of Tories,” hooted a headline in the Freeps today…

The suddenly gaping chasm between the two front-running parties, after months of neck-and-neck polls, is less about a Tory surge than it is about foundering Liberal fortunes — but that’s enough in the capital’s hothouse atmosphere to fire fresh election talk.

Out in Cowtown, Licia Corbella says it’s “being called ‘the perfect storm,'” and she might well be right…

It’s being called “the perfect storm” and is instructive on so many levels, including attitudes about oil and gas, terrorism and Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.

Over at the National Post, they seem to be taking a more wait-and-see kind of approach…

The pollster also said while the trend in recent polls is good news for the Conservatives, the chances of a majority win are still not there.

“He has the trend. It is hard to look at these numbers, especially given the splits in Quebec, and say there is a real big win in the offing for the Conservatives and so these numbers may still continue to argue a certain measure of caution,” Mr. Anderson said.

So what the hell does all this mean, you ask? Well it’s simple: like it or not, we’re almost certainly going to the polls sometime this year, and likely sooner than later. While it’s a pain in the ass, this still isn’t all a bad thing. Recent events — from the cheap PR stunt of Pablo Rodriguez’s little Make-A-Kyoto-Plan-Or-Else bill to the killing of anti-terror measures that the Grits passed in the first place — have shown beyond any shadow of a doubt that if we want anything genuinely constructive to actually get done, we need a Conservative majority before it can happen. Until that happens, the Librano$ will continue stymying anything the Tories put forth (in order to prevent the Tories from being seen as getting anything done) while putting through more self-serving idiotic stunts like we’ve already seen, with the Dippers and Blocheads gleefully going along, all in the great spirit of the ABH principle.

The sooner we go the polls, the sooner we can get a majority, the sooner things can really start getting done, the better for everyone. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting damned sick and tired of waiting.

Well now, isn’t this interesting? Here I am, slurpin’ on my Timmy’s and munchin’ on a Boston creme with not a care in the world, ’cause it’s almost payday. Yeah, the weather’s kind of crappy, but I grew up in Huron County and I have to admit, I still like a good snowstorm. Watching snow fall and cover trees in a soft white blanket is just so… just so damned Canadian, you know? I start thinking that I just might get through the day with nothing to piss me off.
Boy, was I an idiot.

I like to bitch about media bias. Hey, I’m conservative; it’s one of the things we do. 😛 A lot of people will tell me that I’m just making it up, persecution complex, paranoia, not enough beer, whatever. 🙄 It would probably be better if that were true. But it’s kind of hard to ignore, especially when I see stuff like I saw in my Freeps this morning. It’s a story about, among other things, how the PMO has changed the formula for calculating flight costs on the CAF‘s fleet of Challenger jets:

Neither the original formula nor the reduced charges came anywhere close to what Harper himself in Opposition had called “$11,000 per hour Challenger jet flights” by the previous Liberal government.

The invoices, obtained by CP under the Access to Information Act, show three Challenger flights by Harper in 2006 for which the military billed the Prime Minister’s Office.

The first flight was Feb. 10, shortly after the minority Conservatives won power. Harper’s return trip to Halifax from Ottawa for the retirement party of Nova Scotia premier John Hamm was deemed a partisan exercise and the Conservative party paid the freight.

The invoice from National Defence, which lists Harper and six staff on board, calculated the trip cost “3.1 flying hours X $2,139.00/hour.”

It also points out an interesting difference between the current government’s attitude of accountability and the Librano$’ Culture Of Entitlement®…

“Following up on our telephone conversation, it is the wish of the Prime Minister’s Office that the Conservative Party of Canada compensates the Crown for the use of the Challenger on July 26,” wrote a PMO official on Aug. 10.

[…]

“There was no previous protocol, as the former Liberal government never reimbursed Canadian taxpayers when they used the Challenger for non-government business,” she said in an e-mail. “Aside from the first instance, Canada’s new government has been consistent in its protocol for reimbursing the cost of an economy return trip ticket.”

I know, I know. You’re sitting there saying to yourself, “Damn, Dennis; what the hell are you bellyachin’ about? That doesn’t sound bad at all. Whiner.”

I do sound kind of thin-skinned today, don’t I? Well, it’s not the story that I have a problem with. After all, it shows pretty clearly that, with the Tories in charge, the flight costs have dropped from $11,000/hr to $2,139/hr (a drop of more than 80 per cent!). Hell, it even shows that the Tories actually pay their way, whereas the Grits just latched onto the public teat and sucked for all they were worth; so it’s not exactly like they’re smearing the PM now, is it?

No, it isn’t. But what’s got a burr under my saddle isn’t the body of the story; it’s how it’s spun. You see, that’s what the MSM does. They tell the truth but always seem to slant it to make liberals look good and conservatives look bad. Take this story for example. What kind of headline would you expect for that? How about something like…

Harper Slashes PMO Jet Costs 80%

Wouldn’t sound too unreasonable, would it? Or, how about this one…

Tories Pay Own Way

That would be okay, too, wouldn’t it? Either headline would be honest, accurate, even a little eye-catching. Ah, but that wouldn’t fit in with the Lefty-loving media’s little agenda now, would it? Hell, no. So, instead of a headline that hints at how the Conservative government has a) cut flight costs and b) actually pays their own way where the Grits just mooched a ride, we get this bullshit…

Taxpayers on hook for PM jet

Yup, that’s it. No bias there, is there?