Vaccines 2
Vaccines???
Does anybody have any idea what Trudope is doing with our vaccines? Latest news I have heard is that we may not be getting our shots until possibly summer of 2022.
10 Year Anniversary
"Crises can be opportunities as well"
Conservative strategist Goldy Hyder comments on how the Earthquake in Haiti has drawn attention away from Stephen Harper's prorogation of parliament. From a political standpoint, the federal Conservatives are happy that millions of people are without food and homes. Meanwhile nearly every business I have been to in the last week has a collection for Haiti relief.
I have nothing to add.
Conspiracy or Glitch?
Google Suggests is the name for that little dropdown box you see when you are entering something in Google. It is intended to be completely impartial, and advertisers depend on this.
But recently somebody has discovered something interesting. If you start entering text such as "Christianity is", you will be presented with options such as "Christianity is not a religion" or "Christianity is a lie". You will get similar results with other religions such as Buddhism or Judaism. However if you enter the text "Islam is", the dropdown box closes right up and the Google Suggests feature automatically disables itself.
Huh.
Conan
I rushed home last night to watch Conan O'Brien, he was so funny last week and I wanted to continue watching this train-wreck in progress. He knows people are behind him right now, and jokes about the NBC late night situation drew huge applause. Other jokes didn't.
I have always found him to be funny and quirky, but I am not sure that his current appeal will follow him if he moves to another show on another network.
Death in the Family
I have been lucky in that I haven't had to deal with as much sickness in death in my family as many of my friends. I know that only puts off the years when I am attending more funerals than I would like, but it was still shocking when my 38 year old cousin Derek died last week after succumbing to brain cancer. He was very well liked and popular. His friends have started a group on Facebook named RIP Derek Iles, which has reached 370 members within just a few days. Bye Derek, we're coming. Just not too soon.
PROROGATION (part 2)
From the Free Dictionary Online:
-(verb) to discontinue the meetings of (a legislative body) without dissolving it
- act later than planned, scheduled, or required (delay)
- stop or postpone because of adverse conditions (stop)
- stop dealing with (hold) example: "hold all my calls til March"
- render temporarily ineffective (suspend)
2 years. Wow this blogger site has changed. I am going to have to get my image at the top of the page fixed.
PROROGATION
Canada currently does not have a sitting government. I have always found it a bit odd that we pay these federal politicians over $140,000 per year, yet they take a month off for Christmas and 3 months off for summer holidays. Of course it's not all sitting at the pool drinking Mai-tais during their summer break, our elected representatives are getting out and making appearances at county fairs, dropping into their riding office for a photo op, and drinking Mai-tais. Representing us.
Interestingly, each MP currently receives more than twice the base salary as an MP would have earned in 2000. So were our MPs grossly underpaid ten years ago, or are they overpaid today? That's not the subject of this post, that's not why I decided to start writing.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has decided that instead of just one month of holidays this year, he would like to take two and a half months. How nice if we could all take two months off at a whim. As political pundit Rick Mercer says:
"Snow days happen to children. If you are an adult, it doesn't matter how much snow falls – you still have to get to work and you still have to shovel the walk. Snow days don't apply to adults unless you happen to be the Prime Minister of Canada, who with one phone call has the ability to give every member of Parliament two months off."
If you have read this blog in the past you know I once considered myself a Conservative federally. I long to call myself a Conservative again, but since my party was effectively taken over by the old Reform Party (Canadian Alliance), its values have gone downhill under leader Stephen Harper. I have a hard time believing that even Reform Party founder Preston Manning isn't phoning his former pupil each morning and demanding to know why our country does not have a sitting parliament.
If we are stupid enough to allow this nonsense to continue then this is the representation we deserve. Or we can each begin to take a part in the process. If you want to find out what your member is doing during his extended vacation this winter, call his or her riding office and ask for information. You can find information on your riding, your MP, and contact information for the riding office by clicking here.
"Even Afghanistan, where Canadians are dying, has a parliament that's open for business." Rick Mercer
I'd be fooling myself if I tried to make myself believe that my blog still gets read. After a long absense, punctuated by last years' fit of poetry and profanity, my blog has gone the way of Kevin Federline....never really made it big, and now hardly worth a shrug.
Still, I find it interesting that shortly after I started posting about Bourque's pro-Conservative headlines, I have begun to see a few other people mentioning it. Likely just coincidence, I know I am writing this for myself and whomever else is bored enough to find this corner of....cyberspace...is that term still used?
Today, the ChronicleHerald.ca published this article.
"The top four “ news" links on the site all slammed Dion, along with an unflattering photo. “ Is Dion Tanking?" screamed the top headline, linking to a story about a Leger Marketing poll that showed the Conservatives leading nationally but the Liberals making significant gains in Quebec.."
The ChronicleHerald concludes however, that Bourque may not have turned his website into a celebration of the Harper government, because Bourque also seems to be a fan of the Ontario Liberals judging by his headlines.
Well...um...the fact that we can tell Bourques political allegiances by his headlines is in itself an indication that his site is no longer just a news site. And I know that I personally am an example of a fan of one party provincially, which I detest federally. Political types can be fucked up that way sometimes.
More to come, I'm sure.
Headline
IS DION TANKING ? TORIES OPEN 7% LEAD
This bias in the way headlines are routinely rewritten is so obvious it is boring. The Tories appreciate the work he is doing for them:
"Bourque is a must read around our shop. He's frequently got the scoop way ahead of everyone else." Devin Baines, PC Party Webmaster
Where is Bourque's take on the recent poll suggesting most Canadians think that the Conservatives' recent anti-Dion commercials were unfair? He has said nothing, which is typical whenever anything critical of Harper hits the headlines.
Bourque headline watch:
GRIT GAGGLE Greets Garth.
What is a Grit Gaggle? Why does Bourque choose to refer to the Liberal Caucus as a "Gaggle"?
MEANWHILE, MASSIVE COCAINE HAUL IN/NEAR GARTH'S RIDING
Why does Bourque choose to tie Garth Turner into this drug bust, when the news story does not mention him at all? Why not mention any of the other Liberal/Conservative/NDP MPs in the area?
For those who read Bourque, pay attention to the verbs. Among many of Bourque's paid clients, according to his website, includes the Conservative Party of Canada. The result: Liberals "threaten", Conservatives "caution". I will discuss more of this in future posts.
For those who may have noticed that this was once a Conservative blog, please keep in mind that this was a Progressive Conservative blog, and that there is a distinct difference. While there are some former Progressive Conservatives in the new party, it is mainly an offshoot of the former Reform/Canadian Alliance/DRC party, and it's policies reflect that fact.
Bourque appears as a source for news items, one which I and many other Canadians visit daily at least once. However the appearance of having the impartiality of a news source is not only deceptive, it is also devious and shifty. Is Bourque a rabid Harper goon or is he just being paid to tarnish the image of Stephane Dion, the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada? This blog will begin to examine the Bourque newswatch website critically in search of the answer to that question.
P.S. Please ignore my silly posts from 2006.
http://www.torontozoo.com/SpecialEvents/AGFTigerCam.asp
So today I'm deleting a lot of links from folks I haven't heard from in quite a while, and adding some new ones. Still unsure about Chomsky, I like to read that.
And I need ideas. It's time for a redesign. I'm not going to go with a template, I'm thinking maybe more flare or colour.
