The ad below ran in Tennessee advocating the election of Republican not voting for the Democratic Candidate Ford. Watch the ad if you haven’t yet seen it.

A lot of Americans have problems with this ad because of ‘racist’ overtones. A lot of Canadians have a problem with this ad because it belittles our role in the international community. I have a problem with this ad because it belittles the role of our armed forces (and diplomatic forces) around the world. » Read the rest of the entry..

Stephen Harper

You can read more about him at Wikipedia
» Read the rest of the entry..

People on the internets are funny. Take this guy who sums up the FOX news position on Canada (from Metafilter):

…from a Fox-conservative viewpoint Canada is something to bomb out of existence: They allow queer marriage. They allow medical dope smoking. The practically don’t bust people for drugs at all. Hell, you don’t even have to be 21 to drink a beer. A Canadian beer with more alcohol than patriotic American beer. And they use the metric system! They have ducks and hockey players on their money! And when GWB said people are with “us or against us”, Canada said no to getting into Operation Iraqi Clusterfuck.

Source:
A stranger among you that says ‘eh’ | MetaFilter » Read the rest of the entry..

Jim Brown
Canadian Press

Thursday, April 07, 2005

The top aide to Heritage Minister Liza Frulla has stepped down - at least temporarily - after he was named in explosive testimony at the federal sponsorship inquiry.

Good start, we know the background, there is a scandal, someone named names, and now an aid is stepping down. Oh yes, an all powerfull aid. Now the government can point its finger and say ‘look, we are serious!’

To continue:

John Welch, who took over as Frulla’s chief of staff in January, was the subject of allegations by Montreal ad executive Jean Brault. The move temporarily relieves at least one headache Prime Minister Paul Martin faces as a result of testimony at the sponsorship hearings that may splash mud on some people still serving in the government.

Well what did he do?

In previously banned evidence that was released Thursday, Brault claimed he was pressured by Liberal party officials in 1996 to put Welch on the payroll at his company, Groupaction Mareketing. Brault said he did so, and paid Welch a salary of $80,000 a year, despite the fact that his real job was to organize for the Liberals in Quebec. ”He came to the office, he was very active on the telephone and we were made to understand that he did work of one nature or another for the party,” Brault told the inquiry headed by Justice John Gomery.

He volunteered to do so while he fights to clear his name and will continue to receive his normal salary, said Lapierre.

I’m sure he volunteered… real sure. Lastly:

Most of the key players in the scandal are long gone from the inner circles of power. But Welch was not the only one of the current crop of cabinet aides to come under scrutiny as a result of Brault’s testimony.

Really? Who else? Oh its a cliffhanger article…

[source]

Is this a liberal problem? The answer is obviously no. Corruption in government is a world wide phenomena, Canada is no different. I’ve personally seen it at the municipal level, had 1st hand accounts of it at the provincial level, and now adscam at the federal level (i’m sure there are way more federal ones that I know of too, I’m just too lazy to search).

This is a political problem inherint in the system. Too much good ol’ boys and not enough ‘fresh faces’. There are so few politicians who get into it because they are interested in helping their country. So now its up to the electorate. Right now, the pollsters are in full swing figuring out how each of the parties might do if a snap election was to be called. Do they care about our interests? Hell no, just their powerlevel, and how to hold on to what they’ve got, and get more. Rant done.

Looky looky, Canada once again shows how reasonable people are up here. At first Gomery banned the material for fear of screwing up the seperate criminal trials of the witnesses (Brault etc). This was before he had heard what they where going to say. Now, most of the testimony is now available. Explosive testimony, public outcry, elections, what will happen next?

“Thats my decision…”

More to come as its available…

Byline: blogosphere and society could care less

According to Statscan 1 million more Canadians are now obese. What is obese? Without going to the doctor, you can get a rough idea using this BMI calculator.

You can read a better blurb here.

The health people also say it is important to assess your beltline:

According to the 2003 guidelines, an overweight person with a high waist circumference would display a high health risk, similar to that observed in an obese person with a low waist circumference. The increased health risk associated with a high waist circumference in overweight individuals is well supported by the literature.12 However, being overweight and having a low waist circumference is still, according to the 2003 guidelines, an indication of increased risk. In other words, the guidelines suggest that all overweight people are at least at “increased risk” even if their waist circumference is low. [source]

However, there is something wrong with how society perceives itself and how it “really is” as this press release issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) June 2 reports that 85 percent of Americans and 88 percent of Canadians describe their health as good to excellent. Perhaps this is why there is no mention at all of this report in the blogosphere.

Will the blog that cannot be named, “Ed Morrissey — Captain Ed to his friends,” become redundant with the un banning of trial information?

The judge presiding over the sponsorship scandal is expected to decide Thursday afternoon whether a publication ban on explosive testimony provided by ad executive Jean Brault at the sponsorship inquiry will be lifted. Mr. Justice John Gomery decided late in the day Wednesday that he needed more time to consider whether to allow the testimony of Mr. Brault to be reported in the media after Mr. Brault completed his time on the stand. Judge Gomery will make his decision public at 2 p.m.EDT.

In the meantime, you can still read a word for word account of the testimony in my earlier post.