Ya think?

"Report says U.S. spy agencies were 'dead wrong' about Iraq"

I wonder if the Bush administration realizes they could have received the same report from a Quebec ad agency for half the price?

Reader mail

I'm relocating to Edmonton for a new job, and that's cut into my posting time, so there's been some lag time on these e-mails I've received. Sorry about that.

First up, alert CBC radio listener Deb W. has noticed the removal of host Don Hill from from Alberta's 1pm phone-in show, Wild Rose Forum. She doesn't explicitly suggest political influence, but points out a couple of curious points:

Don had recently been bringing up some pretty damaging and worrisome information related to Alberta's electrical energy deregulation, and, on his "final" program on Monday, he referenced a Toronto Star article from the fall of 2004 where integration of Canada-U.S. electrical energy was apparently discussed by such "luminaries" [no pun intended] as John Manley, Thomas d'Aquino and...........Jim Dinning.

And as she notes in an e-mail a few days later, the Friday Alberta noon show, "Friday Scrum", began a series of "interviews with influential Albertans". The first guest? Jim Dinning.

Dinning basically outlined his plans for Alberta in the 21st century as a hopeful for the Premier's role. [Friday Scrum host Donna] McElligott mentioned only briefly at the beginning, that Ted Morton was also planning to vie for PC leadership.

This was a blatant, free, political "ad", mostly. Listen to it. You can hear McElligott asking questions as if she were being forced to read from a script. You can also hear the discomfort in her voice.

Readers should draw their own conclusions.

Jonathan Ross was the first to let me know about Medicine Hat MP Monte Solberg's blog, which included this disturbing rant:

Cattle producers should have sent Paul a letter telling him that they just discovered that an open border is a "fundamental human right" that is protected by the Charter. Then Paul Martin Luther King would have had no choice but to at least mention it in his speech and maybe even confront those American cattle segregationists who won't let Canadian cattle drink from the same watering hole as American cattle.

Aiyaa! New-to-me blogger Bruce at Canuck Attitude has been all over this as well.

Keep the cards and letters coming. Well, the e-mails, at any rate - don't be dropping my address in any webforms, SVP.

Disgusting

The polemics came even quicker than I thought, from both the left and right, which saddened me a bit. Only my own desire not to descend into politics in the immediate wake of the killings of the four R.C.M.P. constables has kept me from posting this earlier.

From the Western Standard, this post by Kate McMillian:

And our marijuana decriminalizing legislators would have us believe that the safety of the public depends on arresting hotel owners for smoking violations, getting unhelmeted bicycle riders off our dirt trails and warrentless entry into the homes of dog owners.

Notwithstanding the erroniousness of associating the killings to marijuana cultivation, which, you know, whatever --- to take this tragedy and twist it into a grindstone for some sort of axe about statism was perhaps the most disappointing display of hard-hearted, calculating, manipulative, and cold exploitation I've seen on a Canadian blog. Perhaps I wouldn't be so harsh about it, had she waited to post this until, I don't know - there was some sort of official announcement? Because instead, she elected to post her judgement of this event even as details were emerging in the media.

But lest you think I'm picking on the right as a whole by choosing this example, I'd like to also point out that commentators on the page, so likely right-leaners themselves, shared my disgust:

Your gauche attempt to score political points from this tragic event is disgusting. Shame on you.
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This pretty much does it for me. Four police officers are killed in the line of duty and we turn it into a political debate. This is exactly what the left does in the U.S. when it comes to U.S. combat deaths.
I think that we are showing a lack of class here, to put it mildly. Sadly, I think that is all too common on the internet... For my part, I'm going to... avoid this website in the future.
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I have a suggetion.

Why not postpone the political debate until after you've called the local RCMP detachment, offered your condolences, and found out how to contact the detachment of the officers who died today.

I called my local detachment and they said not to contact the local detachment -- it's too early and they're busy with the investigation.

Why not take a little time out of respect for the families nd friends.

Thank you to those Western Standard [former?] readers for reaffirming my faith that most people are basically good and decent, regardless of politics.

Shock and sadness

What can possibly be said about something like this

Four RCMP officers murdered on Alberta farm

We fool ourselves, sometimes, that our communities, especially our smaller communities, are safe places, that we're insulated from the sort of violence that we imagine happens in big American cities. We're not.

I expect in the next days and weeks the more polemical of us, very possibly including me, will argue for procedural or social or legal changes that could have helped avoid this morning's tragedy. I hope we can defer that.

I offer my deepest condolences to the friends and families of those who lost their lives this morning. There are no words.