Awhile ago a couple of LJ friends and I were discussing the question of who'd voted for our Prime Minister in the recent federal election, and I'd somehow amused them by pointing out that only voters in his own Calgary riding had been able to put an "X" beside his name. The rest of us see our local candidates on our ballots.
I should clarify, ( Read more... )

There are various media reports (this one typical) indicating severe pressure on Canadian Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion to resign, and that a number of people assume that this would remove the only serious stumbling block to the Liberal/NDP/Bloc coalition.
That's wrong. The issue is the coalition itself.
Canada has two major parties (Liberal ( Read more... )

So Canada's three opposition parties have gotten into cahoots to form a coalition and push the Government aside, claiming that the Conservative Government isn't doing enough to stimulate the economy RIGHT NOW.

• The Government has been stimulating the economy over its time in office, with cuts to the Goods and Services Tax and a generous amount of ( Read more... )

A lot of people over the past few hours are hailing Obama as if he were a Messiah, and piling on great expectations that would be staggering to actually meet. Here's hoping his presidency doesn't end with him being nailed to anything by his own people, eh? It's still the real world, people have to put on their pants one leg at a time, and there ( Read more... )

A news item from Toronto about the latest twist on a gun buyback has the Chief saying "... the presence of a handgun in a community, in a home, in the hands of a young person, and, in particular, in the hands of a criminal represents a danger to everyone in our city". It seems to me that a large number of handguns in the city are in the holsters ( Read more... )

Before the world completely passes me by again, a few thoughts about last night's Canadian federal election. Locally, I was supporting a couple of campaigns, mostly with putting up signs and a bit of other work. Out here between the cornfields where I live, Bev Oda won re-election with over 50% of the vote this time, while in town I was helping ( Read more... )

SWMBO is reading the handbook of school rules to our offspring, on this the evening before the first day of school. The section on recreational drug use is probably not relevant to a 7-year-old, especially as she's now asking her mother an imponderable theological question about the relationship between "recreation" and "creation".

In the wake of the Sunrise Propane plant explosion a few weeks ago, Toronto mayor David Millar was claiming that facilities like that need to be at least 1.6 kilometres away from residences. Now, with a non-round figure like that, one might suspect that he's done the physics and the math, figured out the amount of thrust a propane storage tank ( Read more... )

This afternoon on my way home I was passed by a van with TSSA markings, driving out of town like a stripe-arsed ape. After a moment's contemplation, I realized it might be wise to try and keep up.

If you ever need a really accurate weather forecast, just watch for a farmer running any sort of harvester across his field. Look at how fast he's going and how many rows he has left to do and figure out the projected completion time. That's precisely when the local weather is going to turn nasty.